The Golden Treachery
by Ellen 26 and Jason Strong
Summary: Jake was born lucky, Tristen wasn't. Shes had to fight for everything, while Jake gets anything he wants handed to him, and Tristen hates him for it. They constantly fight, and argue, and pick on each other. So imagine them on a quest together.
1. Tristen

**Tristen**

--

I stormed into the Hermes cabin, in my usual bad mood, but this time, it was justified… and it was directed at one person. I just needed to find him, so I could kill him…

"_Where is he_?" I screamed. Some of the younger people ducked away out of my line of fire.

My eye blazed, and my damp fringe fell over from in front of one eye, to in front of my whole face.

The fringe's colour reminded me what had happened, I scowled.

I saw some of the older, cocky cabin members stifling back laughs.

"Who?" said an unknown voice, it was struggling to keep from laughing, I could tell.

"Jake! Who else?" I screamed.

I heard someone sniggering, "Oh, I think he's swimming in the deep _blue _sea." He said, and then just burst into hysterics, several voices joined in.

Focusing my sight on where the voice was coming from, my eye fell upon Jonah, who was a son of Hermes. He and his twin brother Jeremy were Jake's friends.

I didn't like Jake Tyler. You see, he was a son of Tyche, the goddess of good fortune. It meant he normally got whatever he wanted, anything that was to do with luck went his way. He was popular, and had friends, and was good at all the things demigods were meant to be good at, sword fighting, Greek, climbing, etc.

So in summary, the complete opposite of me.

I wasn't lucky, or popular, I didn't have a lot of friends. I wasn't good at climbing, or sword fighting.

And to prove my point, see exhibit A, my hair.

My, now _blue _hair.

You see, I very idiotically left my shampoo on top of my bed, and Jake must have taken it, and replaced it with some sort of blue hair dye, and it must have been strong, my hair was black, so I dreaded to think what he put in there.

I bolted from my cabin.

"Jake!" I roared, "Where the _fuck_ are you?"

He poked his head around from behind Zeus's cabin.

Stupid blond haired git. "Hey, it worked!" he exclaimed, a smile covering his face.

"Oh well, very good for you!" I exclaimed.

"I should run now, shouldn't I?"

I ground my teeth together. "You think so?"

I picked up a handful of gravel, and then...

"Tristen!" Chiron yelled, "Drop the rocks!"

As I let the stones trickle out of my hand, my shoulders slumped down, and then I went to go see Chiron.

I should explain why the normally calm Chiron yelled at me. For one, I don't listen unless someone's yelling at me, and two, he was all the way at the other end of the of the cabin circle.

I looked up under the mop of hair that pretty much covered my whole face.

"Yeah?"

Chiron was in centaur form, meaning he towered above my small five foot four form. Of course this meant if felt like a naughty child getting told off.

"Tristen! You can't keep getting into fights!" he sighed, folding his arms.

I looked up at him; my fringe fell in front of the eye it wasn't meant to. "Technically, I can, and I'm a lot stronger- I can win."

"Taking on the son of Tyche though? How is that logical?" He pointed out.

"Anger isn't logical, look what he did to my hair!" I exclaimed.

He tilted his head. "I thought you did that yourself, it suits you."

"Not the point!" I snapped.

"Tristan, calm down, right, I let you off this time, just leave the boy alone, it's not going to go well for you."

I pivoted around, and headed back to my cabin, until Chiron called me back.

"Tristen! You've got Greek now, where are you going."

"Όποια και αν είναι, να είμαι εκτός karate." I yelled, waving my hand.

That roughly translated to "Whatever, I'm off to karate."

--

I entered the deserted Hermes cabin, and I made my way over to the mirror, and started to apply my makeup. I put heavy eyeliner around my eye, made sure my fringe completely covered my right eye, how I liked it, smoothed down my clothes, and exited the cabin.

Pulling a key out my pocket, I unchained the bike from a nearby tree.

Everyone either picked on me, or avoided me, but everyone knew not to touch my bike, guitar, or iPod, under pain of death. (I was one of the few campers who had a job, because I was one of the few who were able to leave camp grounds, we were 2 miles from the nearest town.)

Cycling down the road, peddling fast, I started singing at the top of my lungs, engrossed in my iPod, off in my own little world.

_Who gives a fuck about an oxford comma?_

_I've seen those English dramas too._

_They're cruel._

I continued until I reached the nearby town, I ducked into a small corner shop.

"Hey Cody!" I yelled at the shop keep, while reaching into the fridge, and pulling out a bottle of coke.

I strolled up to the cash desk of the empty store, and saw my co-worker sitting on his butt, feet up on the desk, TV remote in hand.

"Busy day I see."

He looked up at me under a mop of messy brown curly hair.

He was a cute dude, little bit of a zit problem, but nice.

"Yeah, I've been rushed off my feet all day," he said, leaning over to take a drink from a can with a straw on it.

"Sure, right, I've got to go to karate, add it to my tab."

"Sure thing Tristen." He said, reaching up, and putting another tally mark on a sheet of paper entitled "_Tristen's bottles of Coke_."

"I'll pay on Saturday."

He laughed. "Sure you will, I'll see you on Saturday, have fun at karate!"

I quickly hopped onto the bike I had dumped, and peddled to the other side of the tiny town, which had a population of around 1,000 people-ish.

I chained my bike to the front of the leisure centre, and quickly ducked my head through the door.

"Sorry I'm late!" I yelled.

Everyone looked up at me and smiled "Tristen!" Some people offered me high fives.

That was why I came to karate. I had friends here.


	2. Born Lucky

**Hi my peeps. Okay, so this chapter is being written by me (Jason Strong) and it will be in the POV of Jake.**

**Jake**

"She is going to freak," said Jonah, dipping his paint brush in the jar of pink paint.

"Not if we don't get it done before she gets back from karate." I told them. We sat by the lake under the tree. We were planning on a practical joke that would make Tristen really mad, that is, if she didn't cry. Pssh… she wouldn't cry, but she'd get mad enough. I glued a purple ribbon on the edge of her guitar, as Jonah painted it pink.

"Guys," began Jeremy, Jonahs twin brother, "Do you really think we should be doing this? I mean, it _is _her prized possession, and you already turned her hair blue. Don't you think that's enough for at least a week?

"No," I told him, standing up. "I told you, we are not giving up until she totally loses it."

"But what if she _totally _loses it? We sleep in the same cabin, you know; she could slit our throats in our sleep."

"I don't think she'd take it that far." Jonah chimed in, pushing a tuft of long brownish hair out from in front of his hazel eyes.

"But she does know like…all forms of martial arts." Jeremy worried. I looked down at the guitar. It was a little less than half way painted pink, the rest was a dark shade of blue.

_Like her hair…_ I thought. The side that I was working on had the starting of a purple ribbon on the rim, hot glued in place. I picked up the glue gun and began gluing the ribbons on again.

"Jeremy, make yourself useful and go get some flowers from the field." I demanded. Jeremy, looking just like his brother does, walked off grumpily.

"What if she _does_ like…beat us up or something?" Jonah asked, not looking up from his painting.

"She won't," I explained. "Every time she gets close to trying to hurt me, Chiron stops her." Even so, my hand went to my magic item in my pocket, a number two pencil that could transform into a spear.

We worked silently and diligently for a few short minutes.

"What time is it?" Jonah asked.

"About noon." I told him.

"She should be out of practice by now!" He said with alarm.

"Chillax," I told him. "I've got it under control. Just start painting faster."

Immediately, Jonah picked up the pace. Slow, even strokes, creating a pink so bright, that the Aphrodite kids wouldn't like it. I hot glued faster -without a single burn I might add- and we slowly began to creep closer to being finished.

"Be sure to paint the frets pink too," I told him. Just then, Jeremy came with a array of flowers, pink, purple, and yellow.

"Here," He said uncaringly and shoved the flowers at me. I took them and gave him an ungrateful glance. I slowly began weave them through the strings of the acoustic guitar. The instrument gave horrible straining sounds, as if it were trying to call for Tristen, telling her what we were doing, telling her to stop us. Suddenly, I saw Tristen biking up the hill.

"Here she comes!" I cried and yanked the guitar off the ground.

"Hey! I wasn't done paining that!" cried Jonah.

"Get rid of the evidence!" I called back as I started to the Hermes cabin in a full out run. I ran up the field and past the volley-ball nets. As I passed the rock climbing wall, I turned to look to look at Tristen, to see if she'd caught on yet. But no, she was innocently chaining her bike back up to a tree.

I bolted for the Hermes cabin, knowing she hadn't seen me yet. I opened the door, banging the guitar on the wall as I rushed in. there was now a knick in the wet pink paint. There was no one in the cabin; they were all out doing their daily activities. I slung the guitar next to Tristens' forlorn bunk bed. I ran across the floor, dodging empty mats and back packs. I climbed up the ladder to my top bunk bed and snatched the mirror and comb off my bed (I had left them up there this morning. I had been too lazy to pick them up and put them away) I looked lovingly into the mirror and pretended to be combing my hair. Just seconds later, Tristen walked through the door. She sighed, as if I was the last person she wanted to see. She was still in her karate uniform, her first-degree black belt hung from her waist. She glared at me for a moment, and then pushed a tuft of blue hair out of her eyes. She went on with whatever she came in the cabin for. Probably to change clothes. She said nothing, and in return I said nothing. I turned my back to her, but angled the little white hand-held mirror so that I could see everything she was doing.

I watched her as she went to the top bunk, not noticing her guitar and began to dig in a small sack. I looked at myself for a moment.

_No wonder Silena's so in love with me, _I thought _I'm perfect._

I gazed upon my light green eyes, which could sometimes be brown, and my short blond hair. A leather Panama Jack bracelet hung off my wrist as I brought the comb over my head and slid it effortlessly through my flawless blond hair. I pointlessly scanned my face for any imperfections. None. Like I said, I was perfect. Two necklaces hung from my neck; a camp necklace with six painted beads, and a leather necklace with a copper four-leaf clover for a charm.

Sudden movement distracted my peripheral vision. Tristen slowly headed down the stairs of the bunk bed, a wad of clothes in her hand. I put the mirror down and turned around. I wanted to see firsthand her face when she saw her guitar. She walked around the end of the bed and stopped suddenly, staring at the guitar.

She stared at it for a long time. Anger, confusion and sadness painted her face. But mostly anger. She turned around to face me. A wave of understanding seemed to pass in her.

"You did this, didn't you?" She asked calmly. I was disappointed when she didn't scream.

_Woah, _I told myself, _she talked to you. Think of a snappy remark. _

"Sorry," I told her. "I only answer to people with normal hair colors." Her face told me she had grown subconscious of her hair. She shook her head, her face bright red. She snatched the guitar up and stormed out of the cabin.

_Maybe she'll lose it out there. I'll follow her. _

I hurriedly jumped from the top bunk of my bed and scrambled out of the door. I looked around frantically, until I spotted her heading for the Big House. I ran to catch up, but stayed to where she wouldn't see me. She walked in and I followed.

Inside, Chiron and Dionysus were sitting across the table from each other, playing pinochle.

"Chiron!" Tristen called. He let out a tiny sigh.

"Yes Tristen?" She walked up to the table they were sitting at and stood there, holding her guitar to him.

"If you don't give me permission to punch him, I will blow up!"

"You promise?" I asked, following the same path she did.

"Ah, Jake," Mr. D said, standing up to greet me. I seem to be the only camper he likes.

"See!" Tristen yelled. "Even Dionysus doesn't pretend to forget his name!"

"I don't _pretend _to forget anyone's name, Tonya, There are just too many names to remember." He told her, putting his arm around me in a buddy-buddy way.

"It's _Tristen,"_ she hissed respectfully.

"Ah, yes, so it is. Well, Chiron, I see you have some drama to attend to, so I'll be off. Have a good afternoon, Jake," He looked at Tristen oddly. "Good bye, Terry."

"It's Tristen!" She called after him. We waited until Dionysus left, the sunlight shown on his Hawaiian floral print shirt and his khaki shorts. He shut the door behind him.

"What seems to be the problem, Tristen?" Chiron asked reluctantly.

I sat down, "Oh, boy, if we're talking about _her_ problems, we'll be here all day." Tristen looked at me sourly, as if to say, plainly 'shut up'.

"Do you see what he did to my guitar?" She plopped the guitar up on the table, it made the same straining noise as it did when I hit it against the door frame.

"Yes, well," Chiron said, a small smile was trying to creep across his lips. "Do you have proof he did it?"

"No," Tristen said confidently. "But do _you_ have proof he didn't?" Chiron rubbed his temples. He was in wheel chair form. Two fake legs hung off his chair. I nervously played with the copper zipper to the pocket of my camouflage shorts.

"Sit down, Tristen." He said. Without saying a word, Tristen leaned the newly-pink guitar with flowers woven in the strings against the table and sat across the table from Chiron. He glanced from me, to her, and then back to me. I was sitting at a table close to them.

"You two are constantly at each other's throats," He said. "If Tristen doesn't want to kill Jake, Jake wants to annoy Tristen, and I'm getting tired of it."

"But sir-"I tried to interrupt sweetly and innocently. He held his hand up to silence me. "Is it possible," He continued, "that you two get that way because you have affection for one another?"

We both turned a vibrant color of red.

"That's disgusting!" Tristen cried, standing up.

"Thanks a lot, Chiron, I'm never going to want eat in here again," I shuddered to add affect. "Besides, I'm dating Silena, remember?"

"Alright then," he said. "Jake, did you vandalize Tristen's guitar?"

"No," I said. "Why would I even want to hurt her musical noisemaker?"

Tristen tensed up, her eyes full of anger as she bitterly glared at me. "You can't go by that!" She screamed. "Of course he's gonna' say he didn't do it!"

"Tristen, lower your voice please-" Chiron began. She interrupted him.

"Lower my voice!" She yelled louder than before. I laughed to myself. "Do you know how hard I worked for this guitar? And then he goes and ruins it, and you're just going to let him get away with it!" She gestured desperately towards the lonely guitar.

"Tristen, sit down!" Chiron yelled, getting out of his wheel chair so he'd tower over both of us. I stopped laughing, even to myself. Chiron hardly _ever_ got angry enough to yell. He took a deep breath to calm himself.

"You didn't let me finish my interrogation," He said in a low, slow tone. He directed his attention to me. "Is there anyone you were with to confirm that you hadn't bothered Tristen's guitar?"

I thought for a moment. "Silena," I said. "We were at the lake together since ten-thirty."

"That's such crap." Tristen mumbled to herself, but Chiron and I both heard her. He ignored it.

"Tristen, would you please go get Silena? I'd like to talk to Jacob in private." Chiron asked her. She gave me a look as if to suggest she were superior to me. We both knew that he knew something; he rarely ever called me Jacob. Reluctantly, Tristen left the room. Chiron paced the room for a few short seconds; it seemed he was pondering what to say. Every time he took a step, a familiar noise of his hooves on wood would echo through the Big House. I watched him slowly pace the room. Each step made me more nervous.

_What if I do get caught?_

"I find it very hard to believe," Chiron said finally. "That you and Silena had been at the lake since ten-thirty. Though it is possible, since she did miss her Greek class at ten-forty-five. However, depending on what she says, there could be severe punishment."

"Sir, I _was_ at the lake with her since ten-thirty," I lied. "I don't know _who _messed up Tristen's guitar."

"Is that so?" He asked. I nodded quickly. "Then, explain to me how you followed her into the Big House, if you had been down at the lake." He stated.

_You can do this, _I told myself.

"Well," I began, my heart racing. "I was in the cabin when Tristen got back from karate, when she got the guitar, she seemed upset, so I followed her to make sure she was alright."

_Yeah, right, and one day, I'll marry the queen of England and we'll be rich famous and have ten kids together. _

Chiron looked at me skeptically. "Really? You've never seemed to care for her feelings before. Like when you turned her hair blue."

I smiled thinking of my beautiful work. "I was trying to _help _her when I did that." I lied.

"How so?" Chiron asked, but as he did, Tristen walked back into the Big House, Silena at her side. My heart fluttered. Silena was the most beautiful girl I had ever set my eyes on. "Ah, girls, sit down."

Without saying a word-which was odd for Silena- they sat down a few chairs away from each other.

"Maybe you can clear this up for me, Silena, were you with Jacob today? Down at the lake?" Chiron asked, locking a stare on her. She looked at me desperately. I nodded slowly so Chiron wouldn't notice. She hesitated, and then, she confidently said,

"Yes. Yes I was."

"What!" Tristen cried. "You little demon spawn!" She stood up.

"Now Tristen, it's obvious that Jake didn't ruin your guitar. Can we please be civilized about this?" Chiron asked. I stood up.

"Yeah, Tristen, be civilized. Don't let your true nature show." I said to her.

"That's it!" She cried and began running at me. I stepped back suddenly. But before she even got halfway to me, Chiron grabbed her.

"Alright Tristen!" He said, she was trying to fight her way out of his grasp, kicking and punching. "Stable duty for a week! Don't make me take away karate as well." She stopped fighting. Without another word from either of them, Chiron led her out of the Big House. Silena slid out of her chair and pushed it back under the table. She walked toward me and gently kissed me on the lips.

"I thought you took pride in annoying Tristen. Why don't you want Chiron to know?" She asked.

"Did you see what just happened? I annoyed her to the point that she has to clean horse poop for a week, _and _turned her most prized position her least favorite color, and her hair is blue! It doesn't get any better than that." I said. "And don't worry. The campers will know who turned the guitar pink and you'll get praise for bailing me out."

"But then, won't Chiron hear about it and put _you _on stable duty?" She asked.

"No," I said. "He'll think that Tristen has been telling them I did it, so he'll dismiss it."

She kissed me again. "You're an evil genius."

"No," I corrected her. "I'm the luckiest guy in the world."


	3. An Eye for an Eye

---

I stood, leaning against the side of the Hermes cabin, the brim of my trilby hat pulled low, covering my face, my _pink_ guitar sitting next to me.

My guitar was ruined, the amount of paint Jake had poured on it meant the strings and the frets wouldn't move, it was completely ruined, I had currently borrowed one from a music group I was a member of… it wasn't the same, but it would do till I saved up to get a half decent one.

I picked it up (my old guitar) and tried to pick out a tune on it, it made a horrible wailing sound, I threw it at the ground, my eye blurred with tears.

I watched the feet coming out the cabin, until I saw a familiar pair of scruffy jeans and trainers exit.

"Hey freak." Jake said, trying to walk on.

I grabbed the collar of his shirt and slammed him up against the side of the Hermes cabin.

"Now I want you to listen, and listen good, 'cause I'm only going to say this once." I hissed, his face inches from mine. "It took me _months _to put my bike, my iPod and my guitar out of bounds, my three most prized posessions."

"But…" he cut in.

I slammed him back into the cabin, harder. "No, you listen to me! You're not the only person who picks on me; half of the camp picks on me! Now, you've put my iPod and my bike within range, it's only a matter of time before my bike gets it."

"Now, the only think I can do to get my iPod and my bike again, is to show the other campers that it's a worse idea to do that, cause what ever they do to my things, I'm going to make it worse for them."

Jake looked… _puzzled_ to say the least.

"Look, all you need to worry about, is learning to sleep with your eyes open, cause you, your pre-Madonna girlfriend, and your two little friends are going to get my special brand of revenge."

I gave him one last shove against the side of the cabin, then turned, and grabbed my guitar, and started to walk away, when.

"'Bye then… freak." He muttered.

I clenched my jaw, keeping my anger under wraps.

I would get payback later.

--

For the next week, all I cared about was getting revenge.

I got Silena back first, you see, before she went out with Jake, the Aphrodite cabin didn't mind me, they didn't like my 'style' but appreciated the fact that I did put in effort, I put on heavy eyeliner, and straightened my hair, I did pay attention to what I wore… and I didn't wear camp half-blood tee-shirts, Chiron had given up trying to get me to wear the horrible baggy orange tee-shirts.

So when they liked me, they told me how come every attempt to steal their makeup ended up in vain, as it always did, no one succeeded.

They had a secret stash.

You see, under the cabin leader's bed they had a little safe, with back ups of their entire make-up, and a key to the safe stuck to the bottom of the bed.

So you could probably see what my plan was.

I snuck in, in the middle of the night. In case you didn't know the Aphrodite cabin slept with earplugs, and face masks, and cucumbers on, which meant they were almost impossible to wake.

I snuck in, and stole all there make up, hair straighteners, hair curlers, and bobbles, just for good measure. Then I went and got there make up from the safe. And then, just to prove to Selina that it was her I was targeting, I took her underwear, and ran it up the flag pole, and then, finally, I disposed of the evidence, and through the make up and hair things into the lake.

You could hear their screams over in New York.

That was very satisfying.

The Hermes twins were next. They were fun.

I decided to hit them where it hurt. They loved their hair.

Jake had had a good idea with the shampoo.

I was very careful, I picked up two colors I knew that would work on there hair. Pink and purple.

Then I wore gloves when rinsed out the shampoo, and replaced it with the dye, and also, dumped the packets into the lake. Destroying all evidence.

Their shocked screams were also music to my ears.

But I saved the best until last. Jake.

They say, an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind, but in my mind, it's only fair.

I got his guitar.

Jake was an amazing guitarist, better than me, but he had a natural talent, and had actually had lessons… unlike me, I was self-taught.

He had a mahogany colored guitar, it was his pride and joy, his dad bought it for him when he was six.

I was more carful than he was, I didn't paint it _pink, _or add frills. I took a spatula, and ran it along the front, taking away all the glue that stuck the front of the guitar, and the strings, to well, the empty bit inside.

I basically took it apart, but sat it in such away, it looked like it was fine, until he picked it up, and it fell apart.

Which was exactly what happened.

I, unfortunately, didn't get to see this. I'm smarter than Jake, I knew if he saw me there when his guitar fell apart, he would automatically think it was me…

He thought that anyway, but it was best I wasn't there when he started swearing, and cussing at me.

I waited outside the big house, until Jake turned up.

"Hey Jake!" I smirked.

He scowled at me. "You're going to get it now, trust me, I'm going to make sure that you never get to go back to your stupid karate, and judo, and, and…" he started stammering.

"Gymnastics, kick-boxing, boxing, self-defense, and Music group." I added helpfully, a smile on my face.

He glared at me again. "Look Tristen, I know it was you."

"Do you now?" I smiled "Care to prove it?"

He tried to kick me one last time, and then shuffled in.

I wandered in after him, my beanie hat pulled low, holding my fringe in place, a red top on, and a pair of black jeans.

We seemed to have swapped places, I couldn't help but giggle.

"CHIRON!" He bellowed,

Chiron frowned, in his wheelchair, and spun around to look at us.

"Gods." he groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose "What's wrong this time?"

I smiled innocently. "I have no idea."

He ran a hand through his hair. "You two are constantly at each other throats! You've got to stop this!"

I sighed, and crossed my arms, flopped down to the floor.

Chiron rolled his eyes. "Right, now explain Jake, why are you here."

"Because! Tristan's been on a vendetta against me, Silena, Johna and Jeremy mean, she stole the whole of the Aphrodite cabins make-up, and then ran Silena's underwear up the flagpole; he dyed Johna and Jeremy's hair pink and purple! And she destroyed my guitar!"

I raised my eyebrow. "That's a pretty serious accusation." I paused "Now why would I want to do that? It's not like you've done anything personal to me recently, like, I don't know, destroy my guitar?" I asked smugly.

Jake groaned. "Look Chiron! She did it!" He yelled. "I know she did!"

Chironstood up out his wheelchair, turning into centaur form; he towered dangerously above us, his tone low. "Now look Jake, don't you _dare _yell at me. I don't care what happened, but unless you have proof that Tristen did this, I want you to drop it."

I bit my lip to stop from laughing, Chiron never yelled at Jake_, no one_ yelled at Jake.

He made a harrumph sound, and stormed out.

Chiron groaned, and settled back down in his wheelchair form, and leant against the table, his head in his hands.

I stood up, and turned to leave, deserting the tired centaur.

--

Jake had phoned up has dad, and had a new guitar within two days, and the Aphrodite had been shopping, and bought new make-up. But that wasn't the point.

I had my reputation back. It was needing a good boost as of late anyway.

Now people, who use to bully me, avoided me.

People actually cleared out my way, I didn't have to bother about bumping into anyone, they just moved for me, no one hassled me about activities.

Right now, I was meant to be in climbing. Instead I was playing my borrowed guitar, singing a song, called 'stand in the rain' trying to get a song right.

_She never slows down.  
She doesn't know why but she knows that when she's all alone, feels like it's all coming down  
She won't turn around  
The shadows are long and she fears if she cries that first tear, the tears will not stop raining down_

_So stand in the rain  
Stand your ground  
Stand up when it's all crashing down  
You stand through the pain  
You won't drown  
And one day, what's lost can be found  
You stand in the rain_

_She won't make a sound  
Alone in this fight with herself…_

"Crap!" I cursed, after hitting a bum note. I plugged into my iPod, and switched on the song, listening to the second verse.

I turned off my iPod, and picked up the guitar, about to play again, until…

"Hey Tristen." I heard a dark voice gloat.

I spun around, to see Jake leaning against the side of the tree, covered in shadows.

"Don't think I've forgotten about the guitar, I'll get you back for it."

I put my guitar down, and strode over to him. I stopped within 3 centimeters of his face, our chests were almost touching.

"You see, I don't think you will, 'cause, I don't know if you've noticed Jake, but I'm a lot smarter than you when I don't let my anger get the better of me. So all I've got to do is keep my temper, and you won't get me back at all," I replied smugly.

I lifted two fingers, and pushed his chest hard, he slammed into the tree.

And then I turned, picked up my guitar, and headed off to the cabins, leaving Jake standing there, fuming_._


	4. No more Karate

"You got the plan?" I asked Silena. She nodded. She swallowed nervously, as she pushed hair from in front of her eyes. She altered her straped white shirt with silver trim, as if she were entereing a fashion contest. "Are you ready?"

"Almost," She replied. "Just let me fix my jeans."

She brought her attention down to her blue jeans that wrapped firmly around her legs. They had holes inthem in random spots. She straightened her glittery silver belt and it's abnormally large belt buckle.

"Now I'm ready."

"Great," I replied, reaching for my pencil/fighting spear that rested in my pocket.

"Jake, wait," Silena said, grabbing my arm. "What if she hurts you? I mean, she's like, an expert at all karate styles known to man, and she's probably an expert at the self-defense forms from whatever planet she's from."

I laughed. She was right, though, but I wouldn't be a coward against Tristen. Besides, it would look stupid if Silena and I just stood here and began talking, and then left, esspecailly to Tristen, who had no doubt seen us already. It was a good day at camp, not a cloud in the sky, and it wasn't too hot, nor too cold.

"Has anyone ever told you that you're cute when you're worried?" I asked smoothly, giving her a playful smile.

"Yes, acually. But in all seriousness... I'm worried about you. She has experience fighting and stuff. She gets practice every time she goes to karate class." Silena said.

"I know," I said. The truth was, I was a bit scared. At that point, I was aware of my phobia of fighting. The only time it was really bad was when I had to fight monsters or during capture the flag. Why? Because people die in fights. Even during capture the flag. Monsters will kill you if they get the chance. Simple as that. Sparring was much easier for me, since your opponents ussually don't intentionally hurt you. But intentionally is the key word. Accidents happen. Sometimes, they're not accidents either. "But don't worry. If all goes right, she won't be going to karate anymore."

"That would devestate her," Silena added, a sly smile creeping across her face.

"I know," I said smugly. "A kiss for good luck?" She stood on her tip-toes and kissed me on the cheek. My stomach churned in a good way, as it allways did when Silena kissed me. She caressed my cheek and began to speak again.

"If she messes up that handsome face of yours'," she began, starting to tense up. "She's going to wake up one morning with her frilly pink guitar shoved down her throat."

"Don't worry," I assured her. "It won't come to that."

"How can you be sure?" Asked Silena, biting her lower lip.

"Because," I said, shrugging nonchlantly. "It would take five bull dozers to wreck my face."

She laughed. "I guess you're right."

"Yeah, you know I am. We should probably get inside, no sense standing outside the fight arena all day." I said. "You remember the plan, don't you?"

"Of course," She said a bit snidely. "It's so simple, you'd have to be stupid to forget it."

"Fine. Let's go."

We began walking into the newest fighting arena that was built esspecailly for fighting. It was like a large circus tent, except for a large hole in the top of it. The arena itself was like a dome sticking out of the earth. It was a tannish color and had four large openings on the side for enterance.

We walked inside and I began searching for Tristen. A large wooden pole held the tent up, as well as a mulitude of smaller, thinner poles supporting it. The material that was used to make the arena, was pure leather, so the smell inside the tent was one that smelled almost plastic, but with a hint of something unidenifyable. Tristen sat on the closest edge to us in the metal bleachers. She was holding her iPod in her left hand, and her black backpakc was slung next to her on the farthest side. She was wearing a plain white shirt and a pair of black jeans. Her tangled blue hair hung down awkwardly past her shoulders. She looked up and quickly looked back at her iPod screen. She quickly looked back up as part of her double-take. She exhaled loudly and rolled her eyes once she realized it was us. Wordlessly, she yanked her ear-phones from her ears and turned off her iPod and shoved them both in her pocket. She grabbed her backpack and slung it carelessly over her right shoulder. She double-stepped the bleacher stairs and made contact with the ground. She walked towards the door we were standing by in attempt to leave. I blocked her exit.

"Move," she demanded. Her eyes full of anger.

"That's not polite, didn't your mother ever teach you manners?" I asked snidely. Her eyes flashed with anger and her face glowed red.

"I don't know who my mom is," She said, trying hard to control her anger. I could tell I hit a soft spot. Cool!

"Fine then, your dad," I improvised. Silena shot me an amused look.

"She doesn't know her mortal parent, or her immortal one," Silena said to me, but I could tell she was mocking Tristen. Tristen started to head towards her threatningly.

"Shut up," Tristen said, getting closer to Silena's face.

"Make me," Silena said, backing up a little. Tristen seemed to consider somthing for a few seconds, then spoke up.

"Didn't those jeans fit more loose last time you wore them?" She asked. "Have you gained a few pounds?"

Silena looked at the jeans, and how they fit around her legs. Her face was pale. "I think you're right!"

"Tristen," I began. "We-"

"What?" She snapped. "What are you here to frame me for this time? Kidnapping? Murder? Assualt?"

All so close...

"No," I assured her. "Just a spar."

"A spar?" Tristen asked. Her eyes began to light up a little, but they quickly faded. "No."

"Chicken?" I asked. She shook her head no and shifted her backpack to her other shoulder. She began to walk away. Oh no you don't. I began to cluck like a chicken, to signify that she was being a... well, a chicken. She stopped in her tracks and froze completely. She let her bckpack fall down her arm and turned around.

"Fine." She stated simply. Silena moved out of our way and leaned against the bleachers. I reached in my pocket and pulled out my #2 pencil that rested in my pocket. I twisted the eraser and pushed it inside the pencil. It immediately expanded on both ends into a spear. Tristen walked briskly over to the sword rack and yanked a sword from it. She balanced it in her hand and shrugged. "This'll do,"

I nodded in Silena's direction. She walked towards the exit and slipped out of the arena. I stared in the distance, watching as she ran back to the Mess Hall.

Just keep Tristen going, I told myself. My heart was punding in my chest so hard, I wondered if it was going to break the bones in my chest.

Tristen and I walked around in a slow circle, both of us waiting for the other to attack first.

"Where'd Silena go?" She asked, somewhat suspiciously.

"I dunno'," I lied. My chest pounding harder. All of a sudden, she flipped over my head, I pivoted suddenly and swiped in her direction with my spear. I ended up swinging around clumsily and almost lost my balance. Tristen swiped her foot under mine and I fell to the ground.

She laughed arrogantly. "You fight like a girl."

"Shut up," I said, standing up. She lunged at me. I hardly had enough time to bring my spear up to block it, but luckily, I did manage to get it up there. I swung my spear in return, it it her in the ribcage and she whimpered slightly. It didn't peirce her, but her shirt had a minor tear where my spear made contact with her side. Pain rushed up my side as Tristen brought her foot away from it. She had kicked my in the side. Ouch! I looked outside. I saw Chiron and Silena heading up the hill in a run. Chiron with a bow in his hand. Time to make it look bad. 

I took my spear and scraped the blade directly over my arm. Blood rushed to the surface.

"What the-?" Tristen began. as she sild her foot under mine once more. She held the point of her sword inches away from my neck. We breathed heavily. She kept her stance as Chiron and Silena ran in the arena.

"See!" Silena called, rushing to me. "I told you! She's trying to kill him!" She ran and helped me up, looking at my arm with wide eyes. I winked at her. She nodded slightly.

"What's going on here?" Chiron asked, enraged. He eyed my arm and sighed with disbelief. "Silena, please retrieve the first aid kit in the closet over there" He gestured to a cabinet the lay hidden in the corner of the room.

"Silena and I came in here, ready to practice our swordsmanship, when we ran into Tristen," I began in a lie. "She ordered us to leave, she said that it was her private place, and that she wanted to be alone. When we refused to leave, she attacked me, so Silena went to get you." I looked at Tristen, her mouth hung open. Chiron looked at her, disapointed.

"Your side of the story?" He asked, dismayed.

"I was just sitting here and they came in and asked me to spar!" Tristen yelled.

"Mind your tone," Chiron ordered.

"It's that Tae-kwon karate fu stuff!" Silena accused. "She's not usin it for self-defense, she's using it to be a bully!"

Chiron rubbed his temples. "Well, until we get this sorted out, Tristen, you're hereby banned from karate, and I'm confiscating your iPod for an indefinte amount of time.

"What?!...But!..ugg!" She ran off, hands covering her face. Straight into the Hermes cabin.


	5. Band

I flew into the Hermes cabin, so grateful that no one was actually there. They were all out at activities.

I jumped up onto my bunk, and pulled a duvet over my head, so as to hide away from the world.

Then, for the first time since I was 6, I cried.

I normally never cry at all. The only time I cried was in a pretty serious injury in a Capture The Flag game. And I was six. I've not cried since then. Crying doesn't get you anywhere, it's just a waste of water.

Tears streamed down my checks, falling onto my pillow in massive black marks, ruining my clean white tee-shirt.

I lifted my head up off the pillow to see Jake come in; I quickly pulled the duvet back over my head.

"Hey Panda!" he yelled, noting my runny make up.

"Fuck off Jake!" I yelled.

I heard him approaching the edge of my bunk. "Tristen, are you… crying?"

"No." I sniffed.

"You are!" he screamed, his laugh escalating to fill the entire cabin. "I actually made cry! Oh gods! You're going to be stuck with the nickname Panda Bear for life now!"

That was too much.

Anger replaced all the emotions I was previously feeling. I jumped off down from my bunk, my feet landing softly on the ground.

"Why don't you just for once shut the fuck up? I mean, where do you get off taking the piss out of me constantly? Or, even better, why did you start picking on me to start with?"

Jake tried to get out a stammered response, but I cut him off again.

My voice got dangerously low. "You see, I know why you started picking on me when we were eight. I was alone, and you are a natural bully, you make yourself feel better by picking on other people, and you use your luck to get away with it."

"But Jake you'd better watch out, because I wish more than anything that your luck would leave you, and, trust me on this, one day it will! And I can't wait for that day, because I will be watching, and you're your luck is gone, I'll take advantage of that fact, and you can guess I'm going to go to more extreme measures than destroying a crappy guitar."

I turned around to grab my borrowed guitar, ignoring Jake who was now standing in shock. I finally let out a low hiss as I spotted it lying on the ground.

Someone had used Jake's old trick, and painted it pink. It wasn't Jake. Jake didn't tend to use the same trick twice; he liked to come up with original torture methods.

The spark had returned to his eyes, and his blonde hair had fallen back into place. I could tell he was planning something.

I held up the guitar. "_See_!" I yelled. "Look! People copy you! It's fucking ridiculous! I can't go two days without something bad happening to me!"

I picked up my rucksack; it was stocked with two changes of clothes, money, hair spray, a mask to protect my face from the hairspray, a couple of guitar picks, and some food.

Storming out the cabin, I then heard Jake come close behind me.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?"

I started running to my bike, well aware that he was following me. "I'm out of here!"

His footsteps quickened. "You're banned from karate!"

Ignoring him, I stood stalk still as I caught site of my bike attached to the tree.

It turns out that the people who destroyed the guitar, had also taken it out on my bike. Tears prickled in my eyes again. This was pathetic, crying twice in the one day.

It was spray painted pink, with slogans written all over it, and flowers.

I unclipped my bike and jumped on it, turning it around to face Jake.

"I'd watch your back Jake, because I'm pretty sure that your luck's going to run out pretty soon, and right now, I have nothing to lose."

I cycled away full pelt as soon as I said that, flew up the hill before he could make some snappy comeback, leaving him there rather dumbstruck.

--

I hoped into the local bike shop after I had gotten down the hill.

It had seemed oddly quiet coming down the road without my iPod. I had to say, I missed it, one more thing to hate Jake for.

The guys at the bike shop were their normal selves. They dressed like most mechanics, in grungy overalls with oil streaks over their face and hands, with snoods to keep their hair back.

They agreed to fix my bike, the paint that the people at camp had used wasn't very good quality, and it would strip off easily, with minimal damage to the paint underneath, which they would then fix. Since the guys there knew me quite well, they agreed to do it free of charge, though it would take a little while.

After that I decided to go to the music group that took place on Fridays.

You see, all the teenagers of this town got bored, so they set up a group in an abandoned warehouse on a Friday.

Then, we decorated the place. We got our hands on almost 15 old couches over time. One wealthier person stole money off their parents and got a wireless thing installed so if you brought a laptop then you could get on the internet, and eventually we managed to get our hands on around 3 drum kits (and 30 drum sticks, drummers snapped them a lot) then around 100-ish guitars, and around the same amount of basses, we also got our hands on amps and microphones and keyboards.

Bear in mind, this didn't happen overnight, it took us around 3 years to manage to get what we had now, and we were gaining more and more each day.

I was one of the people who actually started this group, back when I was 11, me and my 7 best friends. Imagine that, a group of kids managed to set up all this. There were around 100 people here tonight, sometimes we had more! It wasn't just people from this town any more, people came from all over, it is truly amazing. I still don't know how we get electricity, though I have a feeling my richer friend may have something to do with it, and I wasn't going to mess with a good thing.

The theory was, if you wanted to learn an instrument, you came between 3 and 5. Some of the more experienced players taught you.

Then from 5-8 you practiced, chatted, etc.

And then, finally from 8-11, the bands played.

Though what was truly amazing about this was that we managed all this without any adults knowing.

I went around the back entrance, and snuck in, the floor was littered with teenagers playing guitars, basses, drums, keyboards. A lot of people were just chatting, and one person was cutting their own fringe while not looking in a mirror.

I picked up a guitar hanging on the wall, and managed to wade through the sea of people till I found my group of friends. They'd managed to get a table and 3 couches, they must have been here teaching to get the prime spot, mind you, anyone who had been here more than one week knew not to steal our spot.

I heard a chorus of "Tristen!" go up around the group. I stood up and gave them all a series of high fives. A smile touched my lips.

Let me explain my group of friends.

Michael is a keyboard player and bass, he is almost as good as me at karate, and a music freak… he is also a scrubs fanatic, and is 13, he's pretty lanky, with a mop of dark hair.

Jamie is a guitarist and singer, like me. He's the guy who has the parents who are pretty rich, which is awesome, as he can buy a lot of equipment for the music group. He's got brown wavy hair, around shoulder length, and green eyes… he's almost 16.

Kate is a drummer, and a pretty awesome one at that, she is a female football player, and does have a tendency to break the rules. At the moment, her hair is dark purple, which was why she was thrilled when she saw my new dye job at karate.

Cody is my work mate, pretty much a classic geek, though he doesn't like it much. He has his own laptop, and takes it everywhere. He also works at the shop I work at. He is 15, tall with dark brown curls, and a zit problem, he also is extremely un-observant, as he really should wear glasses, but they annoy him. He didn't even notice what happened to my hair. He's a keyboard player, and is pretty amazing at it.

Keri is going out with G.T. She is my age, and if I went to school, she'd go to the same class. Keri is the opposite of Kate, and just a classic girly girl. Her long platinum blond hair reaches somewhere around her waist, and her blue eyes sparkle. She loves to play keyboard and her bass guitar, and if you get past the 5 inches of makeup she plasters on her face, she's a really nice girl… and also quite scary if you get on her bad side.

G.T is 16 and pretty well built, I'm not trying to say that he's fat; he's very well muscled and pretty tall. He is a guitarist and singer, he is pretty protective of his friends. The funny thing is, no one knows his name, all we know is his initials, G.T.

John is a drummer and a guitarist, and also is my age. He is pretty artistic and likes to paint. He's an awesome friend, and honestly will do anything for you, all you have to do is ask.

Anyway, back to reality.

G.T. had managed to get a couch for him and Keri, and she was now currently sitting, her head on his shoulder, while he absent mindedly fiddled with a strand of her long blond hair.

On another couch sat Cody, who somehow had managed to sit a keyboard on his lap, and wasn't really thinking about what he was playing. I could tell because he didn't have any headphones on, his fingers were just going up and down the keys and he was just chatting anyway. Michael sat next to him, completely engrossed in his Portable DVD player. It was quite amusing that he had maybe 5 piles of DVD's next to him… he probably knew teaching would be pretty boring.

And on the third couch (which was slightly bigger) sat Jamie, Kate and John. Jamie had a guitar on his lap and Kate was fiddling with a pair of drumsticks. John was having an argument with the both of them about a new band which was either the best band in the world, or total and utter rubbish.

"Tristen!" yelled Cody, smiling, his floppy hair falling into his eyes.

"You're late!" Keri accused.

I rolled my eyes. "Look, I got into some trouble back at home, they've confiscated my iPod."

G.T. Sighed, "You're not doing well at the minute are you?"

I decided to ignore the slight jibe. "Michael? What you watching?" I crossed my legs on the ground.

Michael had brought along a portable DVD player, he wordlessly offered me a headphone bud, and scotched up on the couch.

I hoped up happily and accepted the headphone.

"Scrubs?" I laughed.

It must have been the end of the episode, cause Michael was totally engrossed in it.

I wasn't really interested in the episode; I was more interested in the song at the end of the episode.

It finished, and Michael slammed down the lid, putting it onto the table, as I resumed my place cross legged on the ground.

"What song was that at the end?"

Mike shrugged. "No idea." He slumped back in his seat, he seemed in a bad mood, I decided not to push him.

"Cody? Can you pass me your laptop?"

He handed me a bag. "Be careful," he scolded.

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, yeah."

I logged on to Cody's computer (he had made me my own space, so I could go internet shopping) and the others returned to their chat.

Opening up Google I typed in 'Songs on scrubs' and opened up the first thing that popped up.

I scrolled down the list of songs and episodes, until I found the one I was looking for.

Smiling at the easy success, I picked up a pair of headphones and plugged them into the side of the laptop, and then went onto YouTube to find the song I was looking for.

Lifting up the guitar, I listened to the song though five times before I started to try and pick out a tune.

It was an easy song, with a repetitive tune and lyrics, so I finished it quickly.

Finally logging off the computer and taking out the headphones. I turned to face my friends.

"Dudes, what's the time?"

Kate checked her watch, "Twenty of two, we should probably sort out what bands we're splitting into."

Jamie nodded. "Right, what about 3 groups?"

I nodded, and looked at John. "You fancy doing a Ting Tings song?"

John smiled. "Sure, I'll go drums; you can do guitar and singing then."

Michael interrupted. "We split into two more teams of 3… no wait Kate, do you think you could play twice, we've got no more drummers?"

Kate nodded, "So what are the groups going to be, though I'm not fussed?"

Jamie answered, "What about in group one, we have me, Michael and Kate, and then in group two we could have Cody, Keri, G.T. and Kate again, and then finally Tristen and John."

We nodded, this was standard procedure, because obviously 8 people were too much to have in one band.

I piped up. "Do you mind if I close the night, I've got a song I want to play."

Every one nodded, and a chorus of 'sure's' went around, it was my turn anyway.

"Need any back up?" G.T. asked.

I smiled, and shock my head. "Nah, I'm good, all I need is an acoustic guitar."

Kate looked at her watch again. "It's time Tristen, NO! Wait, I need to sort your make up!"

I groaned, and squatted down as she took out a wipe and took off all my eyeliner, which would have been smudged all over my face, and then she expertly replied it, and brushed down my fringe in front of my face where it's meant to be, then, she took off her black waist coat and trilby hat, handing them to me, I put them on without a fuss, it was obliviously to hide the stained tee-shirt and to hide my bad hair day.

Then Kate drew me into a hug, and kissed my cheek.

"Perfect!"

I rolled my eye at Kate.

Kate was my oldest friend, she knew everything non-godly about me, and had probably guessed what had happened to me tonight, or near enough. She also looked out for me- well as much as I allowed.

I picked up the guitar and made my way to the make shift stage we set up, lights automatically blazed down on me as my friends joined me.

"Hey dudes!" I screamed into the microphone, people started to cheer.

"Look," Kate started grabbing her own mike. "We set this up 3 years ago, and with the amount of instruments you guys break, it costs a lot to keep it going."

I picked up where she left off. "So afterwards, if you go to the back, we have a box for donations."

G.T. snatched the microphone off of me. "We hope you all enjoy tonight, and have the courage to get up here and enjoy yourselves, because we promise that you're not going to get laughed at… unless it's by me."

The crowd laughed, and Cody took the mike. "We've split off into 3 groups and we'll go first, and then Tristen is going to close. Now finally, we would appreciate if you didn't tell anyone about this group, unless they also enjoy music. Ask them to keep it on the down low, because we wouldn't want any adults finding out and shutting us down." He laughed.

I made my way off the stage, leaving Jamie, Michael and Kate. Michael was on his bass, while Jamie was singing while playing guitar. Kate played her drums, with her infamous drumsticks, which had so much cello-tape on them but she refused to give up.

Jamie stood up to the mike. "Hey dudes, I'm Jamie, and this is Michael and Kate, and today, we're going to sing…" he stopped, going off in his head. "Crap!" he cursed and turned around to talk to Michael and Kate. Obviously they hadn't worked out which song they were doing yet. A small amount of laughter went around the audience.

After hearing a few mutters among them, Jamie turned back to face the crowd.

"Sorry dudes…" he rubbed the back of his head, his hair sticking up messily. "Right, we're going to play 'Mr. Brightside' by The Killers."

I smiled, and crossed my legs as Jamie started to play. He looked at home on stage; he really loved it, just like me.

By the time they had finished, the whole crowd was singing along, it was a good opening song choice got the whole place jumping.

Cody, Keri, and G.T. quickly ran up onto the stage, took away the instruments from the other band. Keri took the mike.

"Hey-ya dudes!"

Everyone screamed.

"Right, this song is called 'I Kissed A Girl' by Katy Perry!"

I laughed and smiled, Keri was a natural performer with an amazing voice, and she was fun to watch.

John nudged me. "Come on Tristen, time to go."

We quickly ran up to the stage.

I grabbed the mike off of Keri, and stole G.T.'s guitar. John managed to get Kate off the drum kit.

"Right, the song we're going to do is 'That's not my name', by the Ting Tings," I laughed.

I laughed along with the song, singing my heart out, the crowd started singing when they began to repeat.

Smiling, I managed to get off the stage, hearing the crowd clap.

After we had all done our songs, other bands got up on stage, there was such a mix between the bands, some metal, some girly girls, some hard core rock, it was amazing.

I almost forgot it had to end at some point.

Cody nudged me. "Tristen, it's eleven, you should go now, before we get people looking for their children."

I nodded, and ran up to the edge of the stage, waiting on the band coming off.

I grabbed a chair, and ran up to the mike, as a lot of punks made their way off the stage.

"Dudes! Look, I'm sorry, it's time to end, we've only got so much time before your parents start calling the police." A small chuckle went around the crowd.

"So I'm going to end, then I want you all to go and put money in the basket by the door, because if my sources are correct, then we've already been through two snare drums tonight."

I started to pick out the tune on the guitar.

"Right, this song is called 'Tell Her This' by Del Amitri." And then I started to sing.

"_Tell her not to go_

_I ain't holding on no more_

_Tell her something in my mind_

_Freezes up from time to time._

_Tell her not to cry_

_I just got scared that's all_

_Tell her I'll be by her side,_

_All she has to do is call_

_All she has to do is call._

_Tell her the chips are down,_

_I drank too much and shouted it allowed_

_Tell her something in my heart_

_Needs her more than even clowns_

_Need the laughter of the crowd_

_Tell her what was wrong_

_I sometimes think too much_

_But say nothing at all_

_And tell her from this high terrain_

_I am ready now to fall_

_I am ready now to fall_

_I am ready now to fall_

_Tell her not to go_

_I ain't holding on no more_

_Tell her nothing if not this_

_all I want to do is kiss her._

_Tell her something in my mind_

_Freezes up from time to time_."

The crowd let out one last roar of approval as I tried to make my way off the stage.

The feeling was amazing, there was nothing else like it, performing on stage is what I was born to do.

--

I glanced at my watch, it said that it was half past eleven, everyone was gone, apart from us. Papers littered the ground, a couple of old jumpers were left on couches, and me and my friends were tiding up the floor, mopping, hovering, tidying away the amps, and sorting through which of the broken instruments were fixable, which had to be thrown away. No matter how many of the broken instruments we threw away, they were also replaced by the next week. Another thing I thought Jamie was responsible for, but he doesn't like attention or thanks for anything he gives to people, it's bad enough when you try and thank him for a Christmas present.

As I stood by the door with a massive group of friends, I sighed in content.

"It's amazing isn't it?"

My friends turned to look at me, with bemused looks on their faces. "What?"

I rolled my eye. "That in forty five minutes, we managed to get this dump back exactly to the way it was."

My friends chuckled, and some of my closest put an arm around me.

All my friends left me eventually, they needed to get home, and I volunteered to count the donation. Since someone replaced all broken instruments, the donations went to new instruments.

I heard the door open again, and the large lights flickered on. Instead of just the desk lamp I had on, I looked to see who had come in.

"Heya Michael!" I smiled, he waved back at me.

"Hey Tristen, I didn't see your bike outside, how are you getting home?"

I cursed, and slouched my head down, banging it on the desk. "Crap, my bike's getting fixed… I guess I'm going to have to walk…"

Michael's eyes widened. "Tristen, don't you live like 8 miles away."

I hesitated, "Yeah, but it's ok, I've walked it before."

"Look Tristen, its 12 o'clock at night, you can stay at my house." He pulled his phone out his pocket.

"But, but…" I tried to interrupt, but Michael held up one finger to shush me, and started to talk on the phone. I listened to basically only one side of the conversation.

"Hey mom, I was wondering whether…"

"Yes, I know I'm late…"

"Look I'm sorry…"

"LET ME SPEAK!" he screamed, and then paused a second "Right, look I'm on my way home, but my friend Tristen is getting her bike fixed, and can't get home tonight, can she stay on the couch?"

"Mom! I do not!" Michael screamed indignantly, his cheeks blushing furious scarlet.

"O.K., thanks, I'll see you soon, bye." He flipped his phone shut, and groaned.

"Mothers!" he bit off, I smiled, acting like I knew what he was talking about, but he didn't know how lucky he was to have a mom, and she was the ultimate mom, who baked pancakes for breakfast, and kissed him good night, I would give anything to be normal, to have a normal family, and not to know a thing about Greek gods, or to have the mental and physical scars from Camp Half-Blood.

He smiled. "You're good to stay over, how long before you're finished, cause we're five minutes late already."

I pushed all the money sitting on the table into a tin, and shut the lid on it, and then stood up. "Look, done!"

I wrapped my arm around my best friend's waist, and he put an arm over my shoulder. "Let's go home, I'm knackered."

--

I woke up on the floor of a bizarre room, a duvet thrown carelessly over me.

I was still wearing last night's clothes; I sat up, rubbing the back of my head, to spot Michael lying asleep on his bed, almost falling out of it.

Shoving the duvet off of me, I grabbed my rucksack, and made my way out of the room. I was standing on a unusual landing, facing a door which helpfully read 'toilet' on a sign.

I started off with my normal morning routine, I brushed my teeth, racked a comb thorough my hair, and then put a mask on, under my fringe. I sprayed hairspray all over my head, which kept my hair in place without managing to make it feel like a helmet.

And then I pulled on a green snoopy tee-shirt, and a pair of bench baggy jeans. Ok, I'll admit, I'm a little bit of a snob when it comes to clothes, I like my brands, such as 'plain lazy' 'soul cal' and, well, new look, which isn't a brand.

But in my defense, the camp pays for all of the year rounder's clothes… well the ones who don't know their parents, and as Chiron doesn't have much concept of mortal money, and even less of foreign currency. I tended to buy from Britain in bulk, and have it sent over here.

I dumped my bag at the top of the stairs, and hurried down, following the scent of bacon cooking.

I entered a kitchen to see a young woman, she must have been around 30, with her brown hair tied back, and an apron on. She was making a fry up, and 3 plates were sat next to the cooker.

She turned her head around, a look of shock on her face. "Oh, hello, I didn't think you'd be up at this time Tristen."

I smiled, she was really nice, this must be Michael's mom. "Well at home, my cousins wake me at 7 am every day, so my internal body clock wakes me up early," I shrugged.

She beamed. "Ahh, so you're the opposite of my Michael then, I need a brass band to wake him up in the morning." She laughed, "Do you want to help me make some pancakes?"

I blushed furiously. "I've never had pancakes before."

She smiled again; she was a very nice person. "They're easy, come on, put on an apron and I'll show you how to make them."

We spent the best part of an hour making up the pancakes, and managed to make around forty of them, and also, covered the entire room in flour.

Michael's mom was called Rachel; she was 17, when she became pregnant. She dropped out of high school, and got herself a job. She gave up everything for Michael as his dad pretty much abandoned them.

I saw Michael come in, rubbing the back of his head, yawning still only in his pajama bottoms.

"Heya Tristen." He smiled

"I've been making pancakes!" I beamed, I head Rachel laugh at me.

He paused, "… Right."

Michael set the table, and I sat down, feeling very cheerful for once. Michael picked up on my mood.

"What's up with this cheerful mood all of a sudden, where's the gloomy Tristen I've grown to know and love?"

His mum rolled her eyes, and put down 3 mugs off coffee.

I looked down at the brown muck in the cup, and swirled it around, trying to pick up the courage to give it a try.

Though, as soon as I found that courage, and drank a big mouthful, Rachel decided to come out with this;

"It's so nice to finally meet Michael's girlfriend."

You know, hearing that someone's mom thinks you're their son's girlfriend, at the best of times, shocks you, never mind what happens when you've just taken your first gulp of a searing hot bitter liquid which you weren't too sure about to begin with.

You can probably guess what I did.

I spat out the coffee, it sprayed all over the table, and Michael.

God, this wasn't going well.

--

Michael and I had a furious argument about the fact I wasn't his girlfriend. It turns out because he spends so much time with me, and he doesn't tell her anything now anyway... She just assumed he was dating someone, and when my name came up a lot, well, she added two plus two, and came up with six.

We tidied up after breakfast, and then I promised Michael that I would come back tomorrow and go skateboarding. Yes, I skateboard, and have a very cool skate board from plane lazy, which is possibly my favorite band.

And then I headed back to camp, it was a long walk, and it was so silent, and I was dreading getting back to camp, cause I knew that I was going to be in trouble.

I just didn't know how much.

--

Chiron was lying down by the camp borders, in centaur form, but as he saw me starting to walk back, shaking with the cold, he stood up, and a look of immense relief covered his face, but he immediately replaced it with anger.

"Where HAVE you been?!"

I held up my hands. "Whoa, I didn't know I had to check out with you, Jake pissed me off, so cycled to a friend's house, and stayed the night, I would have been back sooner but my bikes getting fixed."

Chiron frowned. "You just went to stay at a friend's for the night?"

"Yeah why?" I asked

"Jake said that you told him you were running away, and, well, you didn't have any mortal parents, and you're not used to being on the outside, I was worrying about monsters getting you."

I chuckled, maybe one person at this camp cared about me.

= span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";""Look, I'm sorry I went off for a day, I was going to come back last night, but I really couldn't be bothered walking eight miles at night."

I turned to head back to my cabin, but Chiron grabbed onto my arm, spinning me around.

"Where are you going?" he asked his tone hard again.

"Back to my cabin, I want to take a shower."

He rubbed his temples. "Look, when it got around that you had run away, the Hermes cabin…" he paused. "Well, not all of them, only some members joined in. They threw your things into the lake."

My eyes went wide. "They threw my things in the lake?!" I screeched. "All my clothes? Books? CD's?"

"Sorry." Chiron muttered. "I was busy trying to locate you, by the time I found out, it was in the lake."

I clenched my fist, and muttered one word. "Jake."

Then I started to run off, ignoring Chiron's protests, heading straight to the Hermes cabin.

My mood mirrored the day he died my hair blue, but ten times worse.

I slammed the door open, it banged against the wall and shook the whole cabin.

"Where is he?" I asked my voice dangerously low, I think that almost everyone grasped the fact that I was not to be messed around.

My eye fell upon a giggling 8 year old, lying in my bed, who obliviously thought I was joking.

"Oh you think I'm kidding do you? Get the FUCK out of my bed!" I screamed.

One of the older campers jumped down from their bunk, holding up their hands. "Look Tristen, calm down."

I narrowed my eye. "Don't dare mess with me," I hissed. "You all know who I'm looking for, so just tell me where he is right now or…"

I was cut short by the door behind me, I spun around to see a familiar pink haired boy grinning at me.

"Jeremy, I'm so not in the mood, tell me where Jake is to I can go beat the crap out of him." I spat.

"What? No hello for your best friend you've not seen for two days?" he mocked.

I grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, and slammed him into the wall, his head smack against the door, causing him to whine.

"I just arrived to find that all my stuff has been dumped in the lake, and right now all I need to do is beat the crap out of Jake for doing that."

Jeremy chuckled, and rolled his eyes, I tightened the grip on his camp shirt.

"Don't you dare laugh at me!"

He finished his giggle. "Honestly, I can say with absolute certainty, it wasn't Jake who did that to your stuff."

I released his shirt. "What d'you mean?"

"Jake fell off the climbing wall last night, and broke his arm."


	6. Beginning of a Disaster

**A/N hey guys. So I read your reviews, and I just wanted to let you know that every time you associate Jake with the words 'mean, 'cruel' or anything like that, I laugh. It's truly funny that Ellen and I bring our characters to life so well. However, you all should know that you don't know Jake yet. He has a past, too. You'll learn about it later. **

**Everyone has a past, everyone has a secret - Ellen 26**

"My poor baby," Silena said, running her fingers through my hair. I stared blankly into space. _How could this have happened to me? Me? I don't deserve this. Sure I've pulled a few minor pranks that could be classified as 'mean', but they were funny. Oh, how they were funny. _

The better question was _why did this happen to me?_ I always had my luck, always. I'm the luckiest guy in camp. More powerful than Dionysus. And yet, here I sat, arm cradled in a green cast. "Are you alright Jake?" Silena asked, bringing her face in front of mine.

"No," I said madly. "I just want to know why my luck abandoned me."

"Maybe it didn't." Silena said, shrugging nonchalantly.

"What do you mean? It had to have left me. Nothing like this ever happened to me before."

"Maybe it went on vacation," Silena said. "Its job may pay poorly, but it's still a job."

I rolled my eyes. Sometimes dating the pretty girl came with a price. In my case, a few IQ points a week. "Can I tell you what I think happened? Seriously?"

"Yeah," she said. "But I think it's what I said."

Ignoring her, I shifted on the bed in the infirmary, to face her better than I had been. "I think Tristen took my luck."

"I wouldn't doubt it," Silena said with distaste. "That little thief will take anything she can get her claws on."

"Silena, this is serious."

"I know, I know," She said. "But I find it hard to believe that a demigod, an unclaimed one at that, could make all your luck just…disappear."

I took a casual drink from the glass of nectar on my desk. Savoring every moment as the taste of freshly-baked chocolate cake filled my mouth. I swallowed reluctantly. "I'm not saying she did it directly."

"What do you mean then? You know I'm not good at logic," said Silena, looking at me pitifully.

"Before she left last night, Tristen said a whole bunch of crap. You know, blah, blah, blah Jake! You're so mean! Blah, blah, blah," I said, mimicking Tristen meanly. My expression turned to serious as Silena ceased her giggling. "But then, basically what it lead up to where she told me that I misuse my luck, and one day it was going to leave me."

"So you think," She began disbelievingly, "That Tristen dispelled your luck."

"I didn't say that," I said quickly.

"Then what _are_ you saying?" She asked, her crystal blue eyes sparkling.

"I think," I paused for drama. "That my mom was watching over me, and heard what Tristen said, and _she _took away my luck."

"You your own mother did this to you?" Silena asked. She looked as if she was running thoughts through her head. "Would Tyche do that?"

"She _is _a goddess."

"Good point."

Just then, the door opened. Chiron and Dionysus stood in the doorway.

"Both of your presences have been requested in the Big House." Chiron said formally. "How's your arm, Jake?"

"It's better," I said, Silena stood up, but I still sat in place. "Now that I've went through three cups of nectar."

"Don't drink too many more. The stuff could kill you."

"I know," I said a bit smart-alecky. "I paced myself."

"Alright then," He said, stepping outside again. Mr. D stepped with him. "Be in the Mess Hall within ten minutes." He shut the door. And as they passed the window, we heard Mr. D scolding Chiron. _Don't leave them alone in a room with a bed again! The last thing I need is another pregnant teenager!_

We laughed together, and I stood up. Silena led me outside. The fresh air smelled good, rather than the smell of medication and gauze tape.

"Well, well, well," Said a voice from behind me. I turned around, but I knew who it was. Tristen. Oh, great. "I'd heard it. But I had to see it to believe it."

"Shut up, Tristen," I snapped. She did no such thing. She began to walk past me, and started to talk once she began to walk backwards.

"I told you your luck would run out one day, Jake. I just didn't know that day would come so soon." She said, and turned around.

"Ignore her," Silena said.

"Way ahead of you, babe."

--1--

We walked into the Big House. Not consumed with the usual smells of food and drinks. Not by the laughter, instead, there was complete silence. We saw every one staring at us. We could see everyone's face. Were they staring at my broken arm? I didn't think so. There was a wave of unease, which meant everyone knew this meeting was serious.

Silena didn't kiss me on the cheek, as she usually did when we entered the Mess Hall together. Instead, she walked to the Aphrodite table silently. I joined Jeremy at the Hermes table, across from Tristen. She was still beaming her triumphant beam. Mr. D sat up at the head of the room, looking bored as per usual, but Chiron paced in front of the Athena table.

"Alright, everyone, your attention please," He said. "I'm just going to say this…how do I put it without scaring you…"

"I'll say it," Dionysus announced, standing up. "We're all doomed to die a terrible and painful death. Now on to your daily activities."

A gasp from the crowd stirred. Nervous whispering began. A few people stood up.

"Sit down, quiet, quiet everyone," Chiron said, annoyance in his voice. "Now it's not quite as serious as that, however, The Golden Fleece has been stolen, leaving our camp borderless and vulnerable."

More nervous whispers.

"It's been believed to have been stolen." He slowly made his way toward our table. "We will need border patrol, so the volunteer sign-up sheet will be located at the head of the practice arena after the meeting…" his voice trailed off to me.

"Wanna' do border patrol with me?" I asked Jeremy, he nodded. Tristen looked at me, her smug smile had long since faded, her face was paler than I had ever seen.

My fear of fighting was really bad, and with border patrol, it seemed there would be less fighting than the quest, because we all knew by then there would be one.

Chiron had crept closer to our table at the same slow pace. As if on cue, he announced "There will be a quest."

Excited whispering sounded through the Big House this time.

"But the quest leader has already been chosen," he crept behind Tristen, and put his hand on her shoulder. He looked down at her, making eye contact, and asked, "Tristen, will you lead the quest to retrieve the Golden Fleece?" Her face turned bright red.

"I… guess," she said.

"Then it is done. You may choose one other half-blood to accompany you on your quest."

I stood up. "Her! Lead the quest! She probably stole the thing herself!"

Whispers sounded around me. But this time, they weren't excited, or worried, they were more in a shocked tone.

"What!?" Tristen cried. "I didn't steal the Fleece!"

"You were gone all night last night. If you didn't steal the Fleece, then what were you doing?" I asked, crossing my arm. She rolled her eye.

"I don't have to explain myself to you."

She sat back down.

"Tristen, who will be accompanying you on the quest?" Chiron asked. She looked around. Suddenly, her eye fixed on me. My face turned red.

_Gods, don't pick me, if you do, I swear… _

"Jake will be coming along with me."

_NO! It's okay, Jake, don't show fear. Crack a joke so no one can tell you're scared. _

"Is that so you can kill me with no witnesses around?" I asked. Laughter sounded from around me, although even I thought it was a lame joke.

_Help me…_

**A/N Okay, so there have been a lot of reviews lately. Thanks for that. And Ellen has received and replied to all of your PM's. Sadly, they all have been about Tristen – I mean, that's good for Ellen, but I want to hear what you really think about Jake, so in your reviews, please put in a little passage on Jake.**

**I know you guys hate him, but still… **


	7. Climbing Brings Back Bad Memories

_--_

I groaned, my head was splitting, and someone was yelling my name.

"What?" I yelled, lifting my head off of the pillow, my hair wasn't in place, but I didn't really care, it was only Chiron, everyone else must have left for activities.

"Tristen, we've arranged for you and Jake to leave on your quest in a week, so you can get some last minute training."

I squinted. "I thought the camp boarders were weak without it?"

"They'll do for a while, but you're never going to be able to complete this quest with out being able to climb."

I sat bolt upright. "Chiron I don't climb, I haven't' climbed since I was 6, you know why, and we don't even have climbing yet."

"I swapped the Hermes cabin with Apollo, so that you wouldn't have a chance to plan something for when you're meant to be climbing."

"I don't climb Chiron, I'm not doing it!" I screamed.

The screaming didn't faze Chiron. "I thought you'd say that, so I will give you the camps platinum credit card, for you to buy a new wardrobe if you go to climbing."

I eyed him suspiciously. "Give me back my iPod, and you've got a deal.'

He offered me his hand. "Deal."

--

I made it to climbing half an hour late, after proceeding to fix my hair, and put on my last set of clean clothes, a pair of jeans, and a Blue tee shirt, with a picture of a camera on it.

People were already almost up the wall, lava flowed down it, and I started to shake.

A Demeter camper walked over to me, well not walked so much as skipped. "Wow, Tristen you never come here! Well, I'll start you on an easy wall."

I resisted the urge to punch the chipper little Demeter camper. She was around 12, and must have had around 4 cups of coffee already this morning.

"I don't climb." I hissed.

More people came over to me.

"What could go wrong? It's perfectly safe and easy!" she exclaimed, bemused by the fact I didn't want to climb. "There's no reason not to."

I bit back all the rage that built up inside me. "It's safe? I don't do fire, or heights, and do you want to know why have a phobia about it?"

I spun around, not waiting for an answer, and pulled my tee shirt up to underneath my shoulder blades.

There was a massive burn scar covering most of my upper back. It was long healed, but none the less shocking.

Pulling down my tee-shirt, I turned around again to face the shocked crowd of campers. "You see? I did that when I was 6 years old. I fell off the wall, and burned myself on the lava. That is why I don't climb, or like heights or fire."

I ran off to the big house, not waiting for a reply, and ignoring the yells to come back.

--

I stormed into the big house. "CHIRON!!! GIVE ME THE iPod AND THE CREDIT CARD!!!" I screamed, my yells echoing around the house.

Chiron wheeled himself into the hall, holding in one hand the credit card, and in the other, my old ratty iPod.

"Climbing isn't finished yet?" he said, making it sound like a question.

"Yeah, you said I had to go, not I had to take part or stay for the whole thing."

He groaned. "Trust you to find a loophole.' He passed me the card and iPod. "Be sensible please." He pleaded.

I grinned, and left. Quickly, before he re-thought the idea.

I ran almost the whole way to Cody's house (tiring work that though, around 4 miles, he was a little bit out of town), and I banged on the door till a disgruntled teenager opened it, Cody's brother Taylor.

"Heya Taylor, where's Cody?"

He pointed up the stairs as I pushed pas t him.

Cody was sitting at his desk, his room immaculate as usual, lit by the soft glow of a computer.

Cody was a geek, he admitted it, and was an honest to god genius, at the age of 10, he hacked into the United States department of defense computer systems, he was found pretty quickly, but it was the concept that he had managed to hack onto to it in the first place. The government promised not to arrest him for life, if he told them how he did it, so they could fix the problem.

His room was basically wire's and computer screens, and boxes with computers and programs with them. in them.

"Heya Cody, can I do some shopping?"

He barely looked up from his screen, as he gestured to the computer next to him.

"Go ahead; remember to use your own space, and the credit card number I gave you."

He continued to type away, on a screen of numbers, I could tell he was hacking into something, and I didn't care to find out what.

"S'all right, I've gotten a credit card off my uncle." I held up the platinum card, though he didn't even look around.

Cody had a credit card, which his mom pays for, she doesn't ask questions, she just pays it… thinking it was things to do with his computers, he completely abuses this though, and lets his friends use the card to go shopping.

"Fine then, just send it here as per usual."

I logged onto to what Cody called his 'home computer' which was a normal desk top, with out other things he needed, this was what his family used, and it didn't have any programs for downloads, and any of the games that he needed amazing graphics and speed for. He didn't use it as much as his other computers, he had like 12 when you added together all the separate pieces.

I went onto my favorite site first, plain lazy, a British site… I was planning on spending a lot of money and Chiron wouldn't understand how much I spent if it was a foreign currency.

I bought 3 Hoodies, one of which was a guy's one… though it was very cool, and would have been warm. Then I bought 4 again, one was a guys… they tended to be comfier, I liked the logo, and I wasn't going to be bothering about how I looked, I was with Jake. Git.

I then bought cap and beanie hat off of the site. The beanie hat came with shampoo and shower jell. I then bought a belt, a tea flask, a packet of cards and…

A giant beanbag.

I wasn't even going to take it on the quest, but it was the coolest most expensive beanbag I had even seen… and I could stay here until I got back.

After the beanbag, I went onto the new look site.

There, I bought one grandpa style cardigan, a bold checkered shirt, I liked checked shirt though I tended to wear them with a tank top underneath, so I wouldn't have to do up the buttons, it restricted my movement, and made me look two smart.

I had another look around new look, but I only bought 1 pair of jeans; I decided it was time to move onto the republic site.

Republic was a shop which tended to sell several different designers things. My favorite brands on the site were Soul cal, and I liked to buy bench jeans.

I bought one basic cream button long sleeved top, then two checked shirts, and a couple of vest tops to put under them.

After this, I proceeded to order 3 pairs of jeans and a pair of combats; then finally, I bought a pair of pajamas,

And then finally, I bought one pair of black converse all stars, practical footwear, rather than a pair of babychams I was looking at.

I shut down the computer, and stretched my fingers.

I glanced at Cody, who was still on a screen with a bunch of numbers.

"Err, Cody, could you turn that off for like two minutes?"

Cody sighed, and spun around on his swivel chair.

"What is it Tristen? I'm in the middle of something."

"Err, I'm going on holiday and I don't know when I'll be back, it may be a while."

Cody's eyes widened. 'Bye…'

"Can you tell the others that I'll be back in a while?" I started to dig in my pockets, and pulled out a load of letters. "and give them theses. Cody, remember, you're one of my best friends, I love you, ok, just remember that."

"Sure…" Cody answered awkwardly; he wasn't good at displays of emotions.

I gathered him in a hug. For two seconds, he just stood limply, and then I felt him hug me back.

"I'll miss you Tristen." He mumbled against my neck.

"I'll miss you to, but I'll see you once I get back."

I drew away and headed off down the stairs without another word, leaving Cody standing there slightly bemused.

I left quickly, trying to stop the tears stinging my eyes from falling. I knew that if Cody saw them, he would know something was up. Not that he didn't realize it already.

The problem was. I was going to a quest, and from what I could tell, a dangerous one at that, and there was a possibility that I wouldn't come back.

I hadn't been briefed about the quest yet; guess that would happen when I went back.

I stopped in the bakeshop, and grabbed my bike, the pink paint had been stripped off, and it was back to it's former glory.

I cycled back to camp as quickly as I could to find Jake waiting at the camp boarders.

"Tristen!" he hissed at me.

"That's my name." I beamed, I was in an unusually happy mood, thank shopping!

"What the fuck possessed you to pick me to go on your quest with you?"

He raised one of his arms, and ran his hand through his hair. His other arm was locked in it's sling.

"I've only got one arm! And you hate me!!! And! I don't want to go on a quest!!!" he screamed at me passing.

"That is why I picked you." I hissed. "I picked you, because you don't like quests, because you didn't want to go, and most of all, because you're an arrogant jackass, and if I bring you along then I have a chance to beat the crap out of you where your little cronies aren't around."

Jake clenched his jaw.

"Oh and speaking of your little cronies," I started, my voice silky "Where is Jonah? I've not seen him since I went out last night."

"We don't know where he went." He admitted.

"You have the nerve to blame me when your little friend is still missing?" I hissed. "Oh whatever, you little fuckwit, what are you even here for?"

"Chiron wants to meet us in the big house to go on about the quest stuff."

I groaned. "Great, just great."

--

I sat in an un-comfy armchair behind a table in the big house; Jake was sitting in a similar one next to me, as Chiron and Mr. D continued to play cards as if we weren't even there.

"Hello Chiron? I would like to leave at some point, why don't you start this conversation already!" Jake snapped, breaking the silence.

Chiron put down his card hand. "Just because you're grouchy is no reason to be rude."

"I don't want to do this freaking quest!" he screamed, standing up, and putting his hands down on the desk.

Chiron put an arm on his shoulder. "Look Jake, what's done is done, you're going on this quest, and you'd better just grin and bare it."

He turned his attention to me. "Tristen, first of all, we know already where the fleece will be, or at least we think it'll be. According to our sources the fleeces has been taken to Mt. Orthys…"

"Sources? What sources?" I interrupted.

Mr. D leaned over the table. "Let's just put it this way, not all half bloods which join the titan army are really evil."

I shuddered at this.

"Also!" Chiron continued. "It can only be you two, because we don't have enough campers, we need the boarder patrols if the campers have any chance of surviving before the fleece is returned."

Chiron rooted around in one of the side pockets of his wheelchair, and pulled out a set of plane tickets, and a little white bottle.

"These are two first class plane tickets, they will take you as far as Las Vegas, the camp budget is pretty limited. You'll have to make the rest of the way there by yourself." He rattled the bottle. "This, Tristen is to help you cope with the plane journey. If you take them 20 minutes before you board, you should fall asleep just before boarding."

I ignored the snigger from Jake, and took the bottle of pills and plane tickets into my pockets

"We're going to Las Vegas? Like where people get drunk and end up married most of the time?"

Mr. D rolled his eyes. "Yes, that's the place."

"Cool." He smirked.

"Right, so all that's left is to get a prophecy." Chiron stated.

I stood up. "Nope, we know where it is, we know how many people are going, and we're getting there, we don't need a prophecy, people go nuts getting a prophecy."

Chiron frowned.

"Give me one good reason to get a prophecy, what don't we know that a prophecy will tell us?"

Jake was watching me, his eyes narrowed. "You woos." He insulted.

"What ever, are we good to go yet?"

"Err, almost." Chiron rooted around in the side pocket of his wheelchair again, and withdrew a small golden bracelet, with one small button shaped charm. "Your godly parent said to give you this. It would, and I quote, "Turn you pure in the nick of time, but for 10 minutes only."

"Very poetic." I scoffed, accepting the bracelet.

Chiron ignored my comment "Right, that ticket fly's on next Friday, if your not on that plane, then you'll have to make your own way across the country." He leaned down, and picked up two identical backpacks off of the floor. "These bags are pretty much packed with everything you could need, and thank the gods; it all fits in, magically. Though there's no clothes in them yet, there should be enough room for that but the bags are pretty full."

Jake stretched up out his chair.

"Are we finished, I want to go to climbing lessons?"

Chiron nodded. "You're good to go, check back here when you leave, but I'll defiantly see you before that anyway."

I pushed back my chair, and picked up the bags, then followed Jake out.

"HEY, TWAT!" I yelled at him. "YOU FORGOT YOUR BAG!"

I launched the bag, and then smiled as it made a satisfying "Bang!" sound with the back of Jake's head.


	8. Recipe for Disaster

**A/N So sorry it's been so long. I've been having computer issues, but this chapter should more than make up for it. It's really long, the longest chapter I've ever archived, as a matter of fact. So you'd better like it. A lot of it is boring, but very vital information. Please read it all. **

Silena and I sat in the Big House, both of us on the Hermes table, as we did almost every night. Sneak out, that is. And usually, I was into it. But tonight, I was a bit distracted.

I was worried on what might or might not happen on my quest with Tristen.

Would I die, would she die? Would we _both _die?

Or would we be victorious?

Or would we be the fall of Camp Half-Blood?

I could feel her hands toying with the hair on the back of my head when she pulled away.

"Jake, are you alright? You seem distracted."

"I'm fine, it's just –"

_She never slows down, she doesn't know why but she knows that when she's all alone, it feels like it's all.._

I flinched at the strumming of a wrong cord. A cry of frustration came from outside. I looked out the window.

The moon shown dimly on the lake, barely giving any light. But there was enough light to see very vaguely, a girl with blue hair and a guitar by the lake.

"It's Tristen." I announced.

"So? Ignore her." Silena said, taking her hair out of its hair-tie. I looked out the window again. A square object sat next to Tristen, who had began playing again.

"No," I said, standing up off the table. "I need to talk with her before we leave tomorrow."

"Jake," Silena said, grabbing my shoulder. "It _is _tomorrow."

"Huh?" I asked, totally confused. "We made out all night?"

"Uh huh," Silena said, pulling out her make-up mirror and fixing her lipstick.

"I haven't even begun packing yet!" I said, and barged out of the room, heading full speed to the Hermes cabin.

I hurried in, stepping over campers that lie on mats on the floor. I looked at my digital watch that rested on my nightstand, and as it turned out, Silena was right. It read 5:18. We were scheduled to leave at 5:30!

I directed my attention to the bunk over my head. I shook Jeremy awake.

"Wha..? Jake?"

"Yeah, help me pack?" He slid his legs over the side of the bunk and climbed down the ladder.

"Shouldn't you have done this last night?" He asked drowsily.

"Yes, _mom,_" I replied sarcastically. "But I forgot."

I grabbed a backpack from under my bed and laid it open on my bunk. He quietly slid open my drawers and grabbed my clothes. I don't think he noticed when he picked up my underwear. He didn't bother folding the clothes; he just stuffed them into my backpack. We both struggled to zip it up. I grabbed my guitar from under my bed and grabbed my backpack. I looked at my wristwatch the now was fastened around my wrist. 5:27. Perfect timing.

I picked up my suitcase in one hand and the guitar in the other and headed out the door.

"Jake?" Asked Jeremy as I headed out the door.

"Yeah?" I asked, spinning around to face him, struggling to make it out the door without waking a camper.

"Have you seen Jonah?" He asked, the worry in his voice was somewhat alarming to me.

"Recently? No."

"I'm...I just worry..." He stammered. Chiron called my name.

"Listen, Jeremy, see you when I get back?" I asked. _See you if I get back._

"Yeah, sure, man. See you then."

I turned around once again, and headed for Chiron and the white SUV that was parked just beyond camp grounds. Down the hill and up the road would lead to the most frightening and suspenseful part of my life before.

And as I walked toward where the centaur Chiron stood, and the outcast of the camp Tristen stood, I could swear my life flashed before my eyes.

I approached them, ready to accept my fate. Chiron looked us both over.

"Tristen," He began as he looked her over the second time. "You accepted this quest, so therefore you are the leader. However, that does not make you Jake's sworn dictator. Listen to him, take his ideas into consideration. If you don't, it could lead you to your own demise."

"I thought I said no prophecies?" Tristen asked, using a smug tone, pushing a tuft of blue hair from in front of her eyes. He rolled his own eyes and fixed them upon me. He looked at me for a second. And in that second, I could see just how old he was...it's like Chiron had suddenly gotten more vulnerable for a few brief seconds. As if he had finally, after thousands of years, let his guard down.

"You are both gifted fighters," he continued. Still, he stared at me... as if he were expecting to never see me again. "Each and every one of my campers is like my children, even the heroes from much before your time I have always considered my own children. Come back to me safe." He was still staring at me, but he then quickly glanced at Tristen. "Both of you."

He knelt down. A heart-wrenching grin on his face. I wanted to scream. I wanted to shout. I wanted most of all to stay... stay where I _knew _I belonged. The place I was safe. The place I had called home as long as I could remember.

"We'll come back," Tristen said. "Even if I have to drag Jake off of one of the many stripers on Las Vegas, we'll both be here."

Chiron looked at her, as if to tell her that she was once again being what he sometimes referred to the younger campers as "Potty-Mouthed". But he said nothing.

"Off with you, both of you. You'll miss your flight." He said, waving his hands toward the white SUV.

I reluctantly made my way towards and around to the other door of the SUV and climbed in. The leather interior was cold, as most is before it is sat on, and the vehicle smelled new. They must not use it too often, because I had seen the SUV since I started going to Camp Half-Blood. I sat down and piled my suitcase and guitar on top of me. Suitcase in my lap and guitar leaning casually against the door, but bottom of it that would normally touch the floor was propped up by my suitcase. Tristen piled in on the opposite side of me, first shoving her suitcase in and following it herself with her guitar in hand. She settled in.

"Good morning Tristen," I began snidely. "May I say you look extra hideous this morning?"

"Thanks," She responded. "Your head looks especially filled with hot air." She clicked her seat belt on and sat back.

We sat in silence for most of the ride. But neither of us were asleep. Do you ever have those nights where you are almost asleep, but not really? You think your asleep, but you're really just day dreaming, and the slightest noise that happens could wake you up? That's what I was doing. Almost asleep, but not really. I thought about everything. I mean _everything._ Every exhilarating or exciting or scary moment in my life came flooding back to me in a time span of fifteen minutes. But mostly, I thought about Jonah.

Where was Jonah? Was it a coincidence he disappeared on the same night of the fleece? Was he taken captive? Prisoner of war? Or was it he who took the fleece in the first place?

I shook the thought away and immediately began talking, just to keep my mind off the subject. "What are we going to do when we get to LV?" I asked Tristen, she looked at me, baffled for a moment, her eyes showed just how confused she truly was.

"LV?" She asked, giving me a look that said 'you retard'.

"Yeah. You know 'Las Vegas'. The city we're going to..."

"Yeah, I know, but it's never been called 'LV'. You're thinking of LA." She corrected, leaning her head against the door of the car. I could see the early morning cars passing us by behind her head.

"_Fine,_ what are we going to do when we get to the _Windy City_?" I asked. She sighed.

"That's Chicago."

"_Fine, _what are we going to do when we get to the-"

"Jake!" She cried, annoyed. She stared at me for a few seconds, and then began to talk. "I think we need to stay in Las Vegas for a while before we start looking for the fleece. Not long, a day or two."

"Why? Do you think that some guy will get drunk enough to propose to you?" I asked snidely.

"No!" She snapped almost instantly. Her face turning red under the rising sun.

"You're right, he'd have to be drunk and blind." I said, thinking instantly I shouldn't mess with her so much this quest...she could kill me! She looked me straight in the eye, evil look on her face.

"Listen, we're outside camp," she started angrily. "I could do things to you Jake; I could do them and say a monster got you. You _will _do as I say when I say it or you won't make it back to camp."

"Yes, Ma'am!" I said sarcastically, giving her a military issue salute for more affect.

The rest of the ride was silent, but when we got to the airport, it was anything but.

Men, women and children crowded the buildings, some rushing to catch their plane, others giving heart-felt goodbyes to friends and relatives. Tristens' backpack was strapped over one shoulder and her guitar case over the other. She was wearing a pair of skinny jeans and a black silk shirt. She carried a box with a white label in one of her hands and her iPod in the other. I wore a pair of khaki shorts and a green pocket T-shirt with a black hat with a white symbol on it.

Tristen shifted the medium-sized box to her other arm and led us to a short line with our airline name. We waited our turn before talking to a small woman (shorter than Tristen and I either one) with a messy blond bun on the back of her head. I could only see her shirt because there was a desk in the way, but it was a dark red with a large rose sewn in it using reflective black beads.

"Hello children," she said with a warm smile, then marking something down with her pen.

"Hey," Tristen said. I stared at the woman, hypnotized. She was the first mortal I had talked to since I came to camp. Then I realized I had to say _hi _or something. I said the first thing that came from my mouth.

"Sup?" I asked, turning a bright shade of red and feeling Tristen's elbow go straight into my ribs.

"We were just wondering when our flight will be loading. We're the 6:30 to Las Vegas." Tristen asked, and gave the first friendly smile I had seen her ever give. The woman moved a Manila file over and searched through a list she had on her desk. She moved her pen along the paper as she read.

"I'm sorry," she said. "Your flight's been delayed."

"What? Why?" I demanded. She looked at me uncomfortably.

"The pilot has committed suicide." She said, and looked downwards, not sadly, but a more embarrassed stance. I elbowed Tristen playfully.

"He must have known you were coming." I said, she shot me "the look". I held my hands up in surrender.

"When is the next flight to Las Vegas?" she asked. The woman looked back at her list.

"About two hours, sorry." She said. Her green eyes glowed; she was fully intrigued in our conversation.

"Will we have to buy new tickets?" I asked, staring into her eyes... something about her eyes. She laughed a little bit. I recognized the laugh as well. I couldn't put my finger on it.

"No," she folded her hands neatly on her desk. "Those tickets should get you through the gates, in fact, in most cases like these; they will upgrade you to a higher class. Then it came to me. I knew who she was.

"Mom?" I asked, my heart skipping a beat. The woman stared at me, looking confused for a second, and then her lips widened into a smile.

"Shh, Jakey, the people here don't know I have any children!" She said in a much too pleasant voice "Come here, you!" she said, flinging herself from around the corner and embracing me in a hug, her head only reaching my nose. Her hair smelled the same as Silena's like apples.

"Tristen!" she said, unwrapping her hands from me and winding them around Tristen. Tristen had a plain-as-day shocked look on her face.

"Umm... Hello, Lady Tyche, pleasure to meet you. Nice Shirt." Tristen said shyly, again shifting the box to her other hand.

"Thanks! It's a rose! I love roses, don't you just love roses? I think everyone does!" My mom replied, smiling even harder than before.

"Well..." Tristen began, but the goddess budded in.

"The only bad part is the rose is black. Black is icky, I hate black, don't you hate black? Black and roses just don't go well together. Come, sit, both of you, you have time before you load your plane."

She pressed her hands against our lower backs and led us to the wooden benches with brown legs that sat against the wall. At the moment it was unoccupied, until we sat down of course. The floor below the bench was carpet, as opposed to the shining white tiles that reflected your image when you looked at them. Behind the bench that we sat down on was a window where you could see the parking lot as people left their cars and headed for the main entrance. The sun had just about completely risen when we got seated.

"Jakey, this is an airport, take off your cap." My mom demanded snatching the garment right off my head and placing it in my lap. "So how's camp, how's Chiron? Jonah, Jeremy..." Her voice trailed off as she elbowed me and gave me a teasing smile "How's Silena?"

"Mom!" I complained quietly, giving Tristen a quick glance. She was giggling as she fidgeted with the box that sat in her lap. "They're fine. What are you even doing here?"

"Well, as you can see this is a very sad place," she began, and gestured to baggage claim. But everyone there was just reading the nametags that were attached to bags they thought could be theirs. "You know, people are seeing loved ones, friends, family, and people that they care about being torn away.." She crossed her legs. "Some even _cry_" she said the word _cry _in a whisper, as if she didn't want Tristen to hear it, who wasn't even paying attention to the conversation, she was busy taking clothes from her brown shipping box and stuffing them in her backpack.

"But anywho, I'm here to brighten their day a tinsy winsy bit." She said.

"How?" I asked, feeling a little nervous to talk to her, seeing as it was a little intimidating to talk to a god, try talking to your own mom.

"Say your husband is going overseas. If I see your upset, I'll make you have a little good luck, maybe you'll find a twenty dollar bill on the floor, or maybe you'll win a free trip to the airpor_t Mc Donald's_."

"Oh," I said. _My Mom is a nutbar..._

She pressed her lips together, as if stuck on what to say next. I looked around the airport awkwardly, not wanting to meet her eyes. The airport was basically a long, crowded hallway, which had an extended hallway with an escalader rising up out of sight for passengers on the planes only.

_Ask her what happened to you luck. _

"So, mom"

_Ask her!_

"Could you show us where the _Mc Donald's_ is?

_Don't make me come out there!_

"Well, if you want Jakey," she said, looking up from her chipping fingernails. "But it's right over there."

"Oh. I knew that."

" I have to get back to work, Jakey, I'll see you right before you leave." She told me. I stood up, Tristen was loading the rest of her clothes in her backpack. My mom walked off without another word. Tristen zipped up her backpack and slung it over her shoulder.

"You mom is crazy." She told me with confidence.

"At least I know who my mom is," I said defensively. We began walking towards the little corner of the airport that morphed into a fast-food restaurant.

We ordered and sat down.

"Eris," I said out of the blue, nonchalantly grabbing a French fry and eating it. Tristen was gripping a double cheeseburger in her hands. She looked at me a moment, swallowed her food and replied.

"No. I'm Tristen. I knew you were stupid, Jake, but gods, at least act as if you passed the fourth grade."

"No, I mean Eris... your mother." I told her as she took a sip of her Pepsi.

"Huh?" She asked, taking sudden interest in the conversation.

"Think about it. Eris is the goddess of discord and unhappiness. She was mean and unpleasant to be around. That's totally you!"

"Actually, it sounds more like you. You bring me unhappiness every day, and I never did anything to you." She took another bite of her burger.

I shrugged. "It's what I do."

"I've noticed."

---1---

The rest of our wait was completely uneventful. We sat in the bench and watched my mom work.

So as you could imagine, we were happy to hear the announcement over the loudspeaker. A man's voice came from nowhere.

"_Now boarding_: _flight 402 to Las Vegas"_

It hadn't been the first time we has heard this man. We first heard him announcing a flight to Atlanta, Georgia, but he had announced many other flights boarding since. And with every announcement he made, he was sure to include and constantly stress the recovery of your bags from Baggage Claim.

"Finally," I said, jumping to my feet and resituating my backpack on my shoulder.

"Seriously," Remarked Tristen, she had taken a short nap, but I hadn't. Something about sleeping in an airport... plus if I were to fall asleep, we might've missed our flight.

Tristen pulled her bag over her shoulder and pulled her shirttail down.

The airport had become much more active now that it was around seven in the morning. And as we made our way to security, people stared at Tristen's blue hair.

"Uh, Tristen..." I began, looking around.

"People are staring, aren't they?" She asked, not wanting to meet my eyes or anyone else's.

"Yeah," I said, a little embarrassed. Tristen mumbled something angrily under her breath and began talking to me.

"You see, Jake?" She asked. Her tone was deep, but somewhat mad. But not in her usual 'I'm going to kill you' way. "You see what happens when you pull jokes like you do? This happens everywhere I go. People stare. Isn't enough that you already had the whole camp thinking I'm a freak? Yeah, it really is Jake, but _no _you have the whole world thinking I'm a freak. Everywhere I go people look at me, say nice things to my face, but I know what they say when I'm out of earshot. It's all because of you. How much damage can a fourteen year old boy do?" We had made our way to the back of the line by that time.

"I never... I never thought of it that way, Tristen. I'm..." My voice trailed off and I looked downwards.

"I don't think that you thought at all."

"I didn't."

The line kept moving forward. We stood in awkward silence.

But I'm happy to report...

Going through airport security was _awesome!_

First, they checked us for guns, and then they had to put our guitars and backpacks on this big X-ray machine! You could see straight through the backpacks! Then, they had us put anything that we had in our pockets in a little bucket that they checked for...gods know what. Then, they did a body check on us again before we got our stuff back. Then we put our guitars on a little cart and used our backpacks as carryon's.

"That. Was. _Awesome!"_ I said to Tristen as we walked through the hallway that led to the escalader.

"Not really," Tristen commented she leaned in closer to me. "I think the security guy that searched me the second time pinched my butt."

I said nothing for a few moments.

Shockingly, I had nothing smart to say right then.

I would have settled for something like _how could he miss it? It's about the size of Niagara Falls!_

But I settled for the less mean, equally as funny and immature "Tristen has a boyfriend!"

"Shut up!" She cried, and... Laughed. My face turned red and my eyes went blank in shock. Tristen held her smile, but as she turned her head away from me and faced straight forward she froze and her eyes widened about three sizes too big. I turned to look at what she was staring at.

A woman stood in front of us. She was tall and boney. Her eyes had many wrinkles under them and thick crow's feet around them. The skin on her face was pale, and stuck to her face so tightly, you could see her cheek bones sticking up like an unnatural mountain in the middle of the Sahara. Her chin jutted out awkwardly and ended in an artificial point. Her hair was one of her more elegant features. It was a long, shiny black. It reflected the dim lights in the hallway. She wore a short, plain white dress with a black fur wrap. Real fur, from the looks of it. Her nails were groomed perfectly in a French manicure. In her right hand, which elevated higher than the other, a tiny holder than looked like a cigarette on a stick. Smoke dimly rose from the thing.

"What a lovely young couple," The woman croaked, followed by a tiny cackle.

"We're not dating." Tristen defended. "What do _you _want?"

"What? Tristen, who is this?" I asked, more confused than usual. The woman stepped toward me prominently. She looked me over a few times. She reached her free, boney, perfectly manicured hand out to touch my cheek, but Tristen stepped in front of me.

"Back off you old cockroach."

She drew her hand back and smiled wickedly with the side of her many-times-lifted lip. "A little defensive, aren't we Tristen?"

"Only against evils like you, Hecate." Tristen snapped.

_Hecate?_

"That's Lady Hecate!" The titan defended. Her cigarette seemed as if it were smoking more. "Show respect to your superiors!"

"You lost all your rights to being respected by any of us when you joined the titans' side." I told her, coming out from behind Tristen. Hecate looked at me once more.

"Did I now?" She asked, taking glances between both Tristen and me. "You're both lucky I'm in a sparing mood, or else you'd be spending the rest of your meaningless lives as chinchillas."

"What are you doing here?" Tristen demanded.

"Oh, you see, here's the thing, I was completely against it, but some of the other Titan's said that we should give you a warning, show you what you're up against." Hecate told us.

"And they care that we know...why?" I asked. Hecate opened her mouth to answer, but a voice interrupted from behind me.

"They're trying to scare you off," a familiar woman's voice sang. I turned my head. My mother stood with her arms crossed over her chest. Her long, white skirt still calming down from her walking. Hecate tensed up a little, but you could hear her laugh lightly. "They're afraid that you'll locate the Fleece and retrieve it right from under their greasy large noses."

Hecate looked up slightly and rolled her eyes. "Ah, Tyche, it's been a while, I can't say I'm sorry about that fact though."

The small woman made her way past me and Tristen and towards the titan Hecate. Reaching about to her neck, my mom began speaking again.

"It's been saddening for me; however, I always looked forward to the daily laughs you brought to Olympus. Like that time you ate bad fish and blew chucks all over Aphrodite's new shoes."

I laughed at little. Tristen elbowed me. I looked at her. "We're going to miss our flight."

"What about that time," Hecate went on, "when Apollo asked you out and you refused, and he had you banned from Mount Olympus for a decade!"

"Gross," I mumbled, but neither of the deities gave me any attention. My mom shuddered.

"I would've went out with him, It's just his poetry was so terrible. _'My love for you burns as bright as the sun, but not even a thousand suns could represent how much I love myself.' _Would you've said yes to that?"

They kept fighting. Tristen elbowed me again, just as my mom flickered, and vanished, and in the same instant, she reappeared in head-to-toe Greek battle armor. Tristen looked panicked. "On my count of three..."

"One," They kept fighting as Tristen inched her way towards the supply closet nearby. She eyed them nervously, making sure neither of them saw her.

"Two," her hand slid over the silver knob that opens the door.

"Three," She slung the door open and grabbed Hecate by the arm and pulled her in the closet. She fell but first into a mop bucket. Tristen slammed the door shut.

"You _brats!_" Hecate screamed through the door, grabbing the attention of civilians that passed. "You will both be spending the rest of your lives as clownfish!"

"Then can we borrow your bucket?" I taunted her. She let out a scream of anger.

"Tyche," Tristen began, can you keep her in here long enough for us to get on the plane.

"I can try," she said. "But I doubt a door can hold any god, especially Hecate."

"It'll have to do."

--1--

I woke from much needed sleep on the plane as passengers walked past our seat to depart from the plane.

The beginning of the ride was all I was awake for. I fell asleep almost sooner than Tristen did, and she was on medication. As it turns out, we were not upgraded to first-class as my mom said, but since I had fallen asleep; I supposed it didn't really matter.

"Tristen," I shook her shoulder. "Wake up; we're in Vegas, baby!"

She slapped at me drowsily and reluctantly opened her eyes. "Don't call me _baby."_

"Whatever," I said, standing up to grab our backpacks from the compartment above our seats, but something fell from my lap and lightly hit the floor, I was just barely able to hear it. I opened the compartment.

"Tristen, could you get that?" I asked, lowering her backpack into my seat.

"What is it?" She asked, bending down to pick the object up.

"I have no clue, all I know is, when we get to the hotel, I'm jumping in the pool." I told her, grabbing my backpack and slinging it over my shoulder. She held a small square piece of plastic in her hand.

"Jake…" She began. "When did your mom give you this?"

"Give me what?" I asked, taking the card from her hands. I read what the inscription on the face was as a man pushed past me. It was a credit card!

There was a card taped to it. It read: _To my Jakey, love, mom._

It had all my information on it. It was completely mine!

"Psh, forget whatever dump Chiron booked us at. We're going to stay at the fanciest, most expensive hotel in Vegas!"

"Cool with me," Tristen said, standing up and slinging her backpack over her shoulder. "Not my money."

We made our way into the airport in Las Vegas. It was much bigger and much more crowded then the one on Long Island. It was a lot better, though. There were no escaladers, mop buckets or evil deities trying to kill 'warn' us.

I think this quest will show is what being a demi-god is all about.

Tristen stopped me in my tracks with the back of her hand.

"Jake!" She squealed. "Our guitars!" she pointed to baggage claim where our guitars in their twin cases were currently available.

I handed her my backpack. "I'll get them, you grab us a taxi."

I sprinted to baggage claim and grabbed our guitars before someone else with sticky fingers did.

Easy enough.

I made my way outside, where Tristen and a taxi waited for me.

It hasn't been bad here.

Yet.

I approached the cab and opened the door. I slid in, both guitars in hand, and Tristen filed in behind me.

"Where you kids headed?" The Taxi driver asked, cigar hanging loosely from his mouth. I handed up my credit card.

"The nicest and most expensive hotel in Vegas." I said to him as he took the card from my fingers.

He swiped it, handed it back and started talking.

"That would be the Shillings'. It's a new place, pretty expensive, but I hear it's real nice." He told us. He hand a New York accent to his voice that completed the Taxi driver look to him.

"Take us there then." I told him. I looked at Tristen, who was watching the airport, paying no attention to me or the driver.

We rode in silence for a few miles or so, and then the driver tried to make conversation with us.

"You kids on a honeymoon?" He asked. Both our faces turned bright red.

"Dude! Were fourteen!" I cried.

"That don't mean nothing nowadays." He told me. "People ain't got no respect for morality."

"We're cousins," Tristen chimed in.

"Ah," the driver said. "Well, what's a couple of kids doin' in Vegas anyway? Don't you know this is where adults come to get away from you?"

"Just passing through." I said. The rest of the ride was as silent as the first part of it, until the driver broke it.

"Where here, the Shilling's." He told us.

We looked out the window. A tall building, at least twenty stories high, towered over the road. It was large and tan in the late afternoon light. Windows were spread systematically on the building, giving it a professional look.

--1--

"This place is great!" I called to Tristen, who was in her room of our four room suite. It came with two bedrooms a living room and a bathroom. I wanted to live there!

"Yeah," she called back calmly. My room was anything but small. It was about as big as a normal hotel room. The bedspread was roses, but I decided to take it up with housekeeping tomorrow.

"Listen, I'm going up to the pool, you want to come?" I called to her.

"Um… sure." She called back, sounding unsure if my invite was sincere.

I had long since taken the cast off my arm, so I was good to swim.

I changed into my swim trunks, which were blue with Hawaiian floral print in white on them. I slipped on a white undershirt, just so I wouldn't have to go through a fancy hotel shirtless. I slipped on flip-flops I had stuck in my backpack and my baseball cap (Which I turned around backwards.)

I went into the living room and plopped myself on the black leather couch as I waited for Tristen.

"There's a casino downstairs." I called to her once more. "Let's eat there tonight."

"Okay," she said, coming from in the room I was in. She stood in the door way of her room and the living room, her blue hair in a hair-tie, but most of it had fallen out, and was still hanging over her face… I don't think I had ever seen her right eye now that I think about it.

"Where's your bathing suit?" I asked, standing up. She took a few steps forward.

"They're under my clothes." She explained.

"Oh,"

"Let's hit the pool." She said.

--1--

The pool was located on the roof of the hotel. We were surprised to find it mostly empty. There were three boys who looked exactly alike. All three in a plain black swimsuit, which matched their dark hair. All three also shirtless.

As we walked onto the roof/pool/hot tub, they stopped what they were doing and looked at us. Make that _stared _at us. They rose from the chairs they sat in and approached us.

"Hi," I said. "Can we help you?"

"Probably so," they had arranged themselves in a perfect line of three, the one in the middle was the one who spoke. "Are you Tristen and Jake?"

"Jake," Tristen tugged at my sleeve. "It's a trap. Look!"

At first, I saw nothing of them, but as I looked, I could see their eyes were glowing a violet purple, and their finger tips were twitching.

I reached in my pocket for my pencil and grabbed it. I twisted the eraser and pushed it downwards, causing it to expand on both edges, and the edge you would normally write with sharpen itself to a point. As I looked at her, Tristen had produced a knife out of nowhere.

Tristen sprung into action first, rolling on the floor perfectly, and stopping right at their feet, she let loose her foot, kicking the triplet on the left in the chin and pushing him with her other foot, he fell to the ground.

I stood there, stunned.

Tristen jumped off the floor and onto her feet she slung her knife hand, cutting the one in the middle on the tip of his nose. The one she had earlier knocked over hand gotten back to his feet, and was ready to attack her from behind, but before I could yell a warning, she drew her elbow backwards, hitting his nose, she pivoted on her feet and was now facing him. She drew back her fist and swiftly punched him across the face. His head drew back and his neck cracked from the forceful punch. I took my opportunity as he held his face, writing in agony, I drew my spear back as if it were a baseball bat, and struck him in the stomach as if he were the ball. He fell into the pool, spraying me with a refreshing mist of pool-water.

Tristen faced the one who was previously in the middle, who had now somehow acquired a sword. He swung, but she parried it off with a kick of her foot. The triplet behind her drew his sword back to stab her in the back, but as if she had eyes in the back of her head, she did a back flip, ending up behind him. She gave him a powerful punch to the back, but it only knocked the wind out of him.

Tiny bits of blood had now filled the pool, but the triplet who had been knocked into the pool, was no longer there. He, like his brothers had mysteriously acquired a weapon, although he had chosen a spear. He approached me in fighting stance, ready to plunge his spear through my chest, and as he brought it down, I brought my spear up, blocking the blow.

Using a spear is much more difficult than using a sword. Using a spear requires a slow-acting battle plan that takes time to follow though, where as the sword offers more speed and can kill quite fast.

My triplet drew his spear back, I used his moment of vulnerability against him by hitting his pressure point that lies between the shoulder and neck, and he cried out in pain, when suddenly, a pain so terrible I screamed out loud raced up my back. My vision blurred.

"Jake!" Tristen called, hooking her foot under one of the triplets' ankle and pulling. I coughed, and to my shock and horror, blood came from my mouth. I dropped to my knees, and the third triplet – one of the ones' Tristen had been fighting – yanked his sword from my back, causing more pain, I fell on my back, causing yet, more pain. The triplet who had stabbed me ran back to Tristen, who was bleeding on her face and arm and had a black eye, as his brother got up. She kicked him in… a very bad spot for boys to be hit in. He leaned over, and in one swift motion, she stabbed her knife in the back of his neck, yanked it out and pushed him in the pool.

I looked up, coughing up more blood. My vision started to turn red, but I could see the triplet I _had _been fighting draw his spear back and grin wickedly at me. As I prayed for a miracle he began to end my life, his spear started coming towards me, but before it hit me, a sound that was so faint I could barely here it passed me. It was getting harder see through all the blood in my eyes, but I could faintly see Tristen's bloody knife sticking out of the triplet's neck. He dropped his spear and fell to the ground next to me, his eyes filling with blood, like mine.

With what little energy I had, I yanked the knife from his throat and plunged it in his chest, just as he planned to do to me.

"Sucker," I said in a faint whisper, my voice scratchy and weak.

His eyes seemed to have lost their glow as his spirit made its way to the Underworld.

_I'm dying, too, just as he did, I'm dying, oh gods, I'm dying._

Then, I lost all sight as I coughed more blood up and took what I was sure was my last breath.


	9. Healing

***

With what little energy I had, I yanked the knife from his throat and plunged it in his chest, just as he planned to do to me.

"Sucker," I said in a faint whisper, my voice scratchy and weak.

His eyes seemed to have lost their glow as his spirit made its way to the Underworld.

_I'm dying, too, just as he did, I'm dying, oh gods, I'm dying._

Then, I lost all sight as I coughed more blood up and took what I was sure was my last breath.

***

My knife clattered to the ground, as Jake fell. I forgot about the triplets, I thought they were all dead anyway.

I picked up the limp body of Jake, and started to run, I didn't care about anything, but I needed him, I promised Chiron I would get him back to camp. He couldn't die.

I ran down the stairs as fast as I could. The stairs would be faster than the lift if I was taking them two at a time till I came to our floor. I ran into our room, and put him onto the nearest bed, lying on his side.

Straight away, I focused. Unlike a lot of campers, I paid attention. I knew pretty much what damage that sword would have done, and approximately how long he had left.

Holding his head up, I forced some ambrosia into his mouth, rubbing his throat till I felt him swallow.

'Jake, don't you dare leave. I've never broken a promise, come back!" I hissed, almost violently, I saw his fingers twitch, and a feeling of relief flooded through me.

I feed him some more ambrosia, while desperately ripping up some sheets to stop the bleeding on his back.

His eyes were starting to glaze over. "Jake come back!' I slapped him.

He blinked, and let out a low groan of pain, the blood flow was starting to slow, if only very slightly.

_God, Tyche, please. I need luck, I need all the luck you can give me, I need for that… that thing not to have severed any major arteries, I need for it to have just entered just below his lungs, I need for it not to have ripped an organ. I need help. _

I gently slid the knife along the seam on his tee-shirt, and peeled it off so I could get a good look at the injury.

He let out a groan, and his face spasmed in pain as the cloth of the tee-shirt stuck to his wound. I tried to remove it as gently as I could to prevent him any more discomfort.

There was so much blood; it was sticking to the sheets. He was covered in it, _I_ was covered in it. I couldn't even see the wound.

He let out another low moan of pain. Good, he was becoming more responsive.

'Jake, right, don't go to sleep, no matter what you do, don't go to sleep." I repeated, pouring a bottle of water off his bedside table, onto a piece of sheets.

I cleaned his wound, the ambrosia was starting to take effect, I could see it healing, and I realized that the stab wound wasn't deep.

"Jake, listen, I need you to wiggle your toes, please."

He whined in response, but I saw his toes move ever so slightly, I breathed a sigh of relief, it hadn't cut his spine, though I realized that the cut was too far over.

Then something went wrong. Out of his wound, there was a shard of small bronze colored metal.

I groaned, god, I thought we'd been lucky. "Jake, listen, I'm sorry, this will hurt, but I need to get the bronze shard out of your back before it heals, just try and stay still please."

Jake let out a low moan again. I took it as a yes.

Grabbing a hold of the edge of the shard, I put a hand on his side, and pulled.

He let out a scream, "Arrgg!" His fingers twisted in the sheets, gripping tightly, as pain shooted through his back.

I smoothed down his hair, as his face smoothed out from a spasm of pain. "Shhh, Jake, sorry, but I needed to get it out."

His eyes fluttered over, they were bright green, "Tha…Thanks"

"Shhh," I soothed. "Right, I've got to check and stitch up your wound."

He blinked in response.

I turned back towards the wound, it was healing as we spoke, I quickly grabbed a first aid kit out of his rucksack. There was a needle and thread, and bandages. His wound seemed clean enough, so I stitched it up quickly and efficiently.

"Jake, come one, don't go to sleep, I know it hurts, but I need you to sit up for me.'

Jakes bleary eyes opened, and he let out another rumbling groan, but I could see, he was getting better, I'd done all right.

"Please Jake, I need to dress your wound. "

He wrapped an arm around my shoulder, as I supported him sitting up.

I got to work, wrapping the bandages around and around his waist.

'Right, now, just… lye on your side, don't go to sleep yet, I need to phone camp.'

I made an offering to the rainbow goddess, to get an I.M up. And Chiron's face appeared in the cloud.

'Chiron, we've had a bit of a problem, can you get an older member of the Apollo cabin here now!?" I demanded, I didn't have time to be polite.

Chiron didn't ask questions, he must have seen the look on my face, either that, or the blood streaked across my cheeks.

"Tristen, Thomas is just coming, what happened?"

'We got attacked, I'm okay, but Jake… Jake froze in the fight, and he got hurt."

A sweaty faced Thomas appeared at the edge of the I.M, though I had never met him, I could guess he was around 15/16.

'Oh my," he said exclaimed, the color drained from his face as he saw the amount of blood.

"Fuck," I cussed to myself, "I can't believe I got a member of the Apollo cabin, who faints at the sight of blood!"

Thomas blinked, and steadied himself, then put a hand in front of his eyes. "I'll be Ok, what is it?" he asked professionally.

"Look, Jakes been hurt, he got stabbed in the back, I've fixed it up ok, but I'm wondering…"

Thomas cut me off, raising his free hand. "Did it hit anything major, any vital arteries, any complications?"

"There was a bit of bronze stuck in it, but I got it out." I scratched my head

"No other complications?" he pleaded, still covering his eyes.

"No, can he go to sleep?"

"It should be fine, make sure he doesn't' lie on the wound, and watch him as he sleeps for the first twenty four hours. If anything odd happens, like he starts coughing up blood, don't heasitate to call me… or preferably one of my siblings if there's blood."

"You're a nuts son of Apollo," I said, shaking my head, "Cheers." I smiled, swiping my hand through the I.M.

"Did you hear that Jake? Your good to sleep okay, just make sure you tell me if your wound hurts, and I'll wake you in a couple of hours for some ambrosia and nectar.'

His eyes fluttered closed, as I took as seat down on the couch across from his bed.

Jake was a mess. His blond hair was matted with blood that was probably not his own. He was bent at an awkward angle, and his face was contorted in pain. Being stabbed was painful. _I would know,_ I though darkly, at least he had ambrosia to slightly dull the pain.

I eventually drifted off into an extremely light doze, the fluttering of a butterflies wings would have probably woken me.

An alarm went off, alerting me that it was time to feed Jake his medicine.

--  
_3 days later  
--_

I wiped away a tear of laughter from my eye, and attempted to become serious.

'Ahh, Jake, while you're in this drugged up state, I need to ask you something."

"What?" he said, he was getting a lot better, was laughing, and high on ambrosia. Well he must have been, for him to be this cheery and nice. It was… unsettling.

"What dye did you use for my hair?" I tilted my head, confused.

"I made it myself," He grinned.

I blinked, "Ah that explains it.'

'Explains what?" he asked, stretching up, and running a hand through his hair, then wincing as he stretched his stitches.

"Well, my hair was jet black, to dye my hair blue, I would have had to bleach it, and even then it would probably fade out in a couple washes, I know, I looked into having red streak before.'

"Well there was bleach in there…"

I refrained from hitting him around the head. He may have been an idiot, but he was at least attempting to be nice, and laughed it off.

"Hey, it looks alright Tristen, it matches your eyes."

I glared at him. "Doesn't! My eyes are really dark blue, almost black; it looks like my pupils are dilated. People who don't know me generally think I'm stoned.'

Jake burst into laughter, tears making their way down his checks.

'Now stop it, come on, I've got to re-dress your wound."

"You just want an excuse to see my six-pack," Jake joked, sticking out his tongue.

I hit him around the back of the head, laughing, if only he was like this all the time, and not only when he was dependant on me to help him.

--


	10. Picking up where we left offkinda

I gently opened my eyes from the most peaceful, and relaxing sleep of my lifetime. When my eyes opened, it took me a few moments to realize where I was. My memories came flooding back to me all at once. The airport, my mom, Hecate, the cab driver, the triplets... the pain of being stabbed...and the blood.

_Stabbed. _

_Tristen!_

"Tristen!" I called out loud. I sat straight up in my bed, temporarily blinded by the light. Pain shot up my back and into my upper neck. Tears filled my eyes, but I blinked them back. "Tristen?" I asked. I pulled the sheets off me, and swung my feet around over the edge of the bed. Pain made itself known in my left shoulder as Tristen entered the room, carrying a thermos of liquid.

"Slow down there," She said, quickly making her way to where I sat, placing the thermos on my nightstand and helping me back under the sheets and blanket.

"How long have I been out?" I asked, heart pounding, the tiniest bit of pain in my voice. I was still in the blood-splattered jeans I had been wearing, but Tristen had changed my shirt.

"Close to three days," Tristen said. She was wearing a pair of short-shorts and a light blue skin tight top. She grabbed the thermos and handed it to me.

"Three days!" I cried, beginning to shoot up again, but Tristen pushed me gently back down.

"Jake!" She shouted. "Will you stop doing that? I haven't worked for three days to heal you just to have you wake up and hurt yourself again."

"How could you let me sleep for three days?" I demanded accusingly.

She shrugged. "You lost a lot of blood; I figured you'd need your rest. Drink your nectar."

A wave of realization washed over me. It wasn't Tristen's fault I had gotten stabbed, and she did spend almost a week making sure I got well.

That's what the good side of me said.

The other side said it _was _her fault, because if she had never picked me for this quest, I wouldn't have ever been in danger.

"We need to get out of here. Tonight." I said suddenly.

"Not tonight. You need to spend at least one more night recovering." Tristen said. For a second, she sounded like a hospital nurse talking to a grumpy emergency-room patient.

"But what if the triplets' master sends reinforcements?" I asked. "They obviously know where we are and what we're doing."

Tristen took a seat in an armchair across the room from me. "Taken care of. The reinforcements came yesterday."

"And you took them _alone?_" I asked in astonishment. "How many?"

"Six," She replied with a sly smile.

"Six! Tristen...that's... amazing! It's incomprehensible!" I shouted excitedly.

"Well," she said, cheeks flaming red slightly. "I try."

I took the first sip of my nectar. "Any idea who sent them?"

"Hecate." Said Tristen almost immediately. "I'm sure of it."

I nodded, not questioning any farther. "What does the nectar taste like?" Tristen asked, standing up.

I laughed a little. "Do you remember the first-annual camp end-of-the-summer lunch where everyone brought a dish of food for the group to eat?"

Tristen's face lit up with remembrance. She sat at the foot of my bed. "Oh yeah!" She cried. "It was also the _last_-annual camp lunch, because half of the students went home to their parents with food poisoning, and the cleaning harpies went on strike from cleaning the vomit of the year-rounders." We laughed in unison.

"Do you remember the triple-chocolate and peanut butter fudge surprise you made?" I asked her.

"Yeah, you told everyone that the surprise was a touch of rat-poison." She said, almost bitterly.

I laughed.

"It's not funny!" She said jokingly. "I spent four days on that, and after the lunch there was only three pieces left! And I had eaten two pieces!"

"Yeah? Well would it please you to know I ate the other piece?" I asked.

"Really?"

"Yeah. I thought it was the best dessert I had ever tasted—though I never would've admitted it." I said. "It tasted good then, and it still tastes good."

"Your nectar tastes like my fudge?" She asked. I nodded.

There was an awkward silence.

"Tristen," I began, squirming uncomfortably. "Can I tell you something?"

"Sure," she said seriously.

"I'm afraid of fighting. I always have been. I don't know why, it's just..." my voice trailed off, and my face flamed bright red.

"But... you fought me before we left camp." She stated dully.

"Yeah," I said, sitting up and taking another sip of nectar. "But that's different. I knew you weren't going to hurt me. But when you're fighting an enemy, they _want _to hurt you. Sometimes they want to kill you." Tristen looked at me, face a tad pale. "And it's not like a video game, where you can come back to life. This is the real world, and death is for keeps."

Tristen shifted uncomfortably. "So what, you're like a pacifist."

"I'd like to think so... but I think pacifist just _refuse _to fight." I said.

"Why?" she asked.

"I don't know, just lazy I guess." I said.

"No, I meant why don't you refuse to fight?" She asked, smiling.

"Oh... I don't have a choice." I took a sip of my fudgey-nectar. "It's either do or die... or both."

Tristen lightly placed a hand on my leg, blushing a bit, and took it off quickly. "Jake, you have my word. YOU will make it back to camp. I won't let anything happen to you. I swear on the River Styx."

--1--

Silena rubbed her eye with a tissue, putting a bluish line across it from her running mascara. "I don't get it, Jake, why would you break up with me? _Me!_"

I rubbed the back of my neck with the palm of my hand. It was early morning, and Tristen was already almost ready to leave for Mount Othrys.

"I told you," I explained, tinge of annoyance in my voice. "I don't want you waiting for me...I'm just slowing you down...and I recently almost died, that gave me the chance to really see the light, Tristen."

She froze, and glared at me through the IM. "Tristen?" she demanded angrily. "Tristen!"

_Oops. _

"You're leaving me for that... that... gorilla girl?" She asked, hurt in her voice, wiping the last tear from her face.

"Of course not!" I defended, cheeks red. "I just... I...." I looked out the window shyly.

"Jake," Silena began. "I dated you long enough to tell when you're lying."

"Yes, well, it's been a really nice chat Silena, glad you answered." I said frantically.

"But-" she began, I cut her off.

"Sorry, we have to get going, time's wasting. Taa Taa!" I waved my hand through the mist, dissolving the connection.

--1--

"We got everything?" Tristen asked, her backpack and guitar slung over an individual shoulder.

"I think so," I said, holding my items a similar way. Her blue hair was pulled back.

"What are we doing for transportation?" She asked.

"I called my dad," I explained, "He sent a car for us."

"Sweet." Tristen commented. "Let's hit the road!"

"San Francisco here we come!" I said, following Tristen out the door and shutting it behind us.

We walked into the elevator and pressed the DOWN button.

Once in the lobby of the hotel/casino, we marched over to the main desk. A man stood there, about in his early twenties, with a goatee and bleach-blond hair.

"You found everything pleasurable?" He asked as Tristen handed him our room's pass-key.

"Yep," Tristen said. I held out the credit card I had found on the plane with my name on it. He pushed it away.

"You paid for the first day, and the rest of them were free, due to the glass your girlfriend found in her bed." He looked at Tristen again. "And rest assured, the staff member who cleaned your room has been fired."

She nodded, gave me a look warning me to only ask questions later, and pulled me towards the door. When we were out of earshot, I turned to Tristen.

"Glass in your bed?"

"I had to explain the blood-covered sheets somehow, a free day at the hotel was just a perk." She explained as we walked out of the building into the parking lot.

The over-occupied parking lot.

"Um..." Tristen said, looking over the large parking lot filled with hundreds of cars. "Which car did your dad send?"

"The black SUV," I replied, trying to locate it from where we stood.

"There are like, twelve black SUV's in the parking lot, how are we supposed to tell it apart?" She asked, a bit annoyed.

"The front license plate has a sticker that advertises Vortex." I told her, beginning to walk.

"Isn't Vortex the largest electronic engineering company in the world?" Tristen asked, following me.

"Yep," I said, spotting a black SUV near us.

"So, your dad works there?" She asked.

"Well, kind of," I said, looking at the front license plate. There was nothing but black. "More like he's the CEO."

I spotted another black SUV across the parking lot.

"Really?" Tristen asked eagerly. "I hear they make the best laptops on the market!"

"Laptops, cell phones, portable DVD players, iPods..." I said, looking at the license plate. Still not the one.

"Cool," Tristen said enthusiastically, and pointed to another black SUV at the back of the parking lot.

"That's it!" I called, remembering the sticker from when I was younger. I looked at the perfectly washed, and shiny SUV.

We hurried over to it. Tristen touched the smooth surface. "Where are the keys?"

I dropped to my knees on the concrete, and pushed my hands under the car, feeling the pavement for the key. Suddenly, my hand brushed over the metal. I closed my fist around it and stood up again.

"Here," I said, holding up triumphantly. "One more thing, though."

"What?" She asked, looking in the window, and then at me.

"Do you know how to drive?"

"No," she replied.

"Want to learn?" I asked, waving the key back and forth.

--1--

As it turns out, there wasn't much to teaching Tristen to drive. After she could distinguish the gas from the breaks, she figured most of the rest out for herself.

She was quite a good driver, actually, and she drove smoothly, even though what we were doing was illegal. But she drove so well and so cautiously, I knew we weren't going to get stopped.

I slept for most of the ride, and we drove all day. When I woke up it was sunset.

Tristen glanced at me really fast, and put her eyes back on the road.

"Hey there, sleepy head." Tristen said.

"Hey," I replied. "Sorry I slept the whole time."

"No biggie," she said. "It was kind of relaxing. I did a lot of thinking. But now that you're awake..."

She turned the wheel and the car eased off the road of the interstate, into a truckers' rest stop. She yanked the keys out of the ignition and exited the vehicle. I followed.

"What are you doing?" I asked as she trailed down the pavement. She said nothing for a few seconds, and when she was sure we were out of sight, she turned around.

"Hit me," she said.

"Huh?" I asked, very much confused.

"Come on, take a swing." She said. "Just do it. I want to see something."

"Alright..." I said unconfidently. I pulled back my fist and pushed it forward as fast and as hard as I could.

Tristen grabbed my fist from the air.

"First of all," she said. "That was way too slow. Second, you hit like a girl."

"Hey!" I protested.

"And third, your fist isn't formed right."

She showed me the proper fist making technique.

And soon, we were in a karate lesson.

Well, not so much a karate class, but she was just showing me basic defensive skills and things like that, simple kicks and punches.

Each time I messed up, she made me do the move over again until I got it perfect three times in a row.

She wouldn't let me use the excuse that I had been injured earlier, and that's why I wasn't doing so good.

She told me no one was perfect, and neither was I.

_Neither was I..._

--1--

We headed back to the SUV, both of us sweaty and hot. It was at least nine at night, and I for one, who had slept all day, was very tired. I couldn't imagine how tired Tristen would've been.

"You take middle seat, I'll take back," she instructed, laying down on her seat. "I'm pooped."

"Me too," I said. "What was all that even about?" I sat in my seat.

"I just wanted you to be more confident next time you go in a fight," she replied. "Do you feel more confident?"

"Yeah," I said, and smiled. "A little. Thanks."

"No problem." She said, smiling back. She sat back up. "It was fun."

"Yeah," I agreed. "It really was. Maybe I'll start going to karate with you when we get back to camp."

"I'd like that," she said softly, warmly. "But I don't know if Chiron would go for it, he'd be too afraid one of us would kill the other in a sparring 'accident'."

We laughed.

"Look at us." I said after our laughs sobered.

"What?" she asked.

"If it were two weeks ago, and someone would have mentioned your name, I would've cracked a joke about you," I said, almost a whisper. Her eyes went dark. "But now, I think I'd defend you against any and all people who said something about you. Just as I'd do if you were Jeremy, or Jonah."

"Or Silena?" Tristen asked, matching my tone. I hadn't yet told her about our break up.

"Yeah," I said. "Or Silena."

"What made you change your mind?" She asked thoughtfully. "When?"

"I don't know, exactly. " I said. "But somewhere between camp and here, something clicked, and I began to..." My voice trailed off.

There was a few seconds of silence, I tried to form words, but something came over me, my mouth wouldn't move. Before I knew anything was happening, our heads moved in towards the others'. Overcome by emotion, it was like our lips were bound together by an invisible magnet, pulling, pulling. Our lips touched together.

A surge of passion ran down my spine, it was as if all my nerves had been touched by live-wire, and no one else on this earth existed. Just me and Tristen.

It was the greatest feeling that I had ever experienced, and I never wanted it to end.


	11. I love you

--

I sat up and rubbed the back of my head gingerly. Jake and I were sleeping in the SUV, we had managed to get the front two seats to recline back, which meant they made good beds… well as good as you could expect for a car.

"Jake, come on, time to get up, we need to get moving today."

Jake groaned, and flung his arm back, hitting me lightly on the head.

"Oww!" I whined, "What was that for?"

He grumbled something that sounded like "morning people" I sniggered.

"Look, I'm off to go get some food, and I may go to the swimming pool to get a shower." I reached over to the glove compartment, and took out a handful of money.

"Look, I think your mom's credit card is sitting in there, I'll meet you at the park at three o'clock, ok?"

Jake muttered something unintelligible then swatted at me, I ducked and laughed.

I sighed, and pulled myself out onto the pavement. My feet burned with the heat off of the concrete slabs as I realized that I forgot shoes.

I made my way through the streets bare foot, eventually stopping in a small café, where I proceeded to by myself breakfast, and a muffin. After my breakfast, I had myself a little shopping trip; I got a couple of supplies, an ice cream, and some black hair dye, the blue was starting to annoy me.

I eventually made my way back to the car, where I saw Jake sitting there, with a massive gift wrapped box behind him.

"What's that?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

He smirked, and handed it over to me, "Open it and see."

I ripped apart the packaging, to see a massive brown cardboard box. "Wow, you put a lot of effort into this."

"Just open it!"

I did as he said, then my eyes lit up as I saw what was in the box.

It was a new guitar.

It was a _blue _guitar.

I threw myself at him. "Thank you, thank you, thanks you!" I squealed.

"Well, considering I broke your one, and people copying me broke your back up, and the one you've got now isn't yours, I thought it might be nice." He blushed.

"I love it!" I yelled, kissing him on his check, if it was possible, his cheeks went even redder.

Smiling, I picked up my iPod, and tried to get that song by superchic that had been annoying me for so long.

I sat down, and started to pluck out the tune, humming along, till I reached the point I've never been able to get.

Jake frowned at me, as I plucked a wrong chord. I stomped my foot in frustration.

"Why the hell can't I get this chord?!"

Jake came over behind me, and put a hand on my shoulder. "Give me an ear."

I handed him the iPod headphone, he stood humming along, till he got to the bit which I had been getting so wrong so many times.

"Right," He muttered, dropping the headphone, he knelt down to his knees, so that his head was leaning on my shoulder. One of his hands came around, and held onto the back of my left hand, while his other hand held onto my strumming wrist. "Now just move your hand, here." He said, pushing each of my fingers into different strings.

"Now play." He smiled.

I groaned, as I at the beginning of the song, and for once, I got it right, "Fuck, I can't believe it was that easy."

Jake laughed with his head still resting on my shoulder. I turned my head to face Jake, our faces were so close, I could count his eye lashes, his blond hair hung limply in front of his eyes, while his face leaned closer to mine, our lips touched gently, sending shivers up my spine.

Then, pressing in-between our lips, fell a strand of my fringe. Jake pulled away slowly, laughing, and reached his hand up to push aside my fringe.

My hand automatically went up to grab onto his wrist, but it was too late.

He gently put down my hand, his face horrified, and then tucked my fringe behind my ear.

"Tristen," he said softly. "What happened?"

His eyes wouldn't leave the right side of my face,

The long scar and missing eye.

Yes, I had a missing eye, and a scared hole where it should have been, and below it, came a long jagged scar, a horrible ugly scar.

I started to cry. "I lost an eye, isn't it obvious?"

"When did this happen?" he asked shocked, he eyes were still focused on the scar.

"I was five, I was playing capture the flag, and I got in an accident. Why do you think I had no friends? I kept my self separate from the campers to prevent them making fun of me." I sniffed.

"Why did you never tell anyone?"

"The older campers know, and Chiron, but I didn't want people to know, why should I!"

"Tristen," He pleaded, still looking at the scar.

"Stop it Jake!" I screamed, standing up, pulling away from him, "You keep looking at it! Not me, the scar! I'm still Tristen! Look at my eye that works, not the broken one!"

Jake blinked. "I wasn't Tristen…."

"You were! Don't try to deny it!" I sobbed.

He stood up, and un-tucked my fringe, then rolled his sleeve over his hand, and wiped away my runny make up. "Tristen, I don't know why you kept it a secret, it's not a big thing, so you've got a scar or two, no big."

"Or two…" I sniffed. "There's the one on my back I earned when I was still trying to get the hang of depth perception, and missed the grip on the climbing wall."

Jake chuckled. "Of course you would, drama queen."

I smiled, and started fiddling with a strand of his blond hair, and then I realized something. "Jake, seriously, what the hell is up with your eyes?"

"What?" he asked, offended.

"I swear, like five minutes ago, they were brown."

He laughed again, "Yeah, they do, do that."

I smiled, and pressed my lips against his again. But this time, the kiss deepened, my fingers knotted in his hair, as he wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me closer.

Eventually, we separated.

"Hey Tristen,"

"Hmmm?"

"I think… I think I'm in love with you."


	12. When in Rome

Tristen looked mildly surprised, she pushed her hair back over her bad eye and stared straight into mine. "You think you love me?" she asked.

"No," I replied, looking not at her, but in her. "I _know _I love you."

"I—I lov-"

I cut her off. "Don't say you love me just because I said it to you. I _want _you to love me, but I don't want you feel like you _have _to. You can say it whenever you want to, it doesn't have to be tomorrow, or next week, or this year even..." I took her hand and looked straight into her eye. "I just want you to be happy."

Her grip tightened on my hand. "I am happy," she replied, but said nothing more.

"We should get going," I said after a few moments of awkward silence. "Dawn's breaking and we have to get to San Fransisco soon."

--1--

The ride was silent from the moment we got back in the car. Tristen drove at the exact speed limit and watched the road attentively. The interstate was barren and desert like as I looked out the window. There hadn't been a tree or any other sign of life since the plants in the lobby of our hotel in Vegas.

Up ahead, a large green sign lingered over the road, supported by long silver poles that held themselves firmly in the ground. The sign read:

_Exit 222—San Fransisco, next right._

"Jake," Tristen began, leaning towards the dash and suiting a the sign. "What does that sign say? I can't read right now... my dyslexia is really bad."

My cheeks flashed a vibrant red. "I can't either," I admitted.

"Huh?" Tristen asked. "I thought you didn't have dyslexia."

"I don't," I said bashfully. We passed under the sign.

"Then how come you couldn't read the sign?" she asked, irritated.

"I can't read." I said suddenly, a little angrily. Tristen leaned up against the seat.

"Then I guess we take this exit and hope it leads to San Fransisco." Tristen said, turning the wheel as we came onto the exit.

It took at least five more minutes of driving in awkward silence to reach the city I knew automatically was San Fransisco. It looked just like the pictures you always see. Long, seemingly endless streets with an old-time fashion incorporated together and breathed as one. Trolleys glided softly down the smooth pavement of the clean streets.

"Just like in pictures," I breathed my thoughts aloud.

"It's beautiful," Tristen agreed. "So now I guess we go find a hotel or something to stay at?"

"Uggg! I'm so tired of hotels... but I guess we don't have an option." Just as I said that, I noticed the trolleybus pulled up at a stop. "Hey, you ever been on a trolley?"

"Nope," she said, shaking her head.

"Me neither," I told her. "Pull over."

She obediently turned the wheel, and the car obeyed, swerving gently to an empty lot. When we parked, I unfastened my seatbelt and reached over Tristen, yanking the keys from the ignition. I swung the door open and stepped out of the car.

The smells of San Fransisco immediately overwhelmed me, the smell of the distant ocean, the light smell hot dogs and popcorn wavered in my nostrils, making my empty stomach growl.

The bell to the trolley rang, signaling that it was almost ready to leave. I grabbed Tristen's wrist and we ran to catch it.

The woman driving the trolleybus was a fat, old lady, who scowled and mumbled something under her breath as we got on the trolley. We pushed past the crowds of people that blocked our path to the back of the trolleybus.

"Was it just me, or did that driver-lady not like us too much?" I asked Tristen.

"It wasn't just you—maybe she was having heartburn?" Tristen offered sarcastically. I laughed as we gripped the railing of the trolley. The train began to move—the sudden change in motion causing the passengers a temporary lose their balance, but it was quickly regained.

We looked out into the sights of the marvelous city as the trolley slowly picked up a steady speed. We watched as we passed the city of San Fransisco. Outdoor cafés and people walking their dogs on the side of the road. Children smiled and laughed and played, while adults sipped their coffee and talked amongst themselves. This city to me, felt as alive... felt vibrant with many unknown qualities. To me, it felt as if everyone there were family, they all knew each other and smiled at each person they passed by.

Of course, this was far from reality.

Wind whistled lightly through my hair and brushed refreshingly against my cheeks, also sending a cool breeze through the fabric of my shirt, and whipping the once-deadly wound on my chest, which was now reduced to a mere scab. People waved at the trolley as it passed by, and each time I'd wave back.

After a while of this routine in complete silence, Tristen spoke up. "Um.. Jake?"

"Yeah?" I asked, but I knew good and well what she was about to say.

"About what you said in the car... that's not true, is it? You have to be able to read... I mean it's just like... required."

"Not if you live at Camp Half-Blood. There, the only thing that is required it to stay alive." I told her.

"But... how?" Tristen asked.

"How _what_?" I demanded, but not meanly. She pushed her hair out of her face. It was swinging wildly with the wind, going in all different directions.

"How did you go all this time without reading?" She asked. "You came to camp after I did, shouldn't you have learned sometime before then?"

"Yeah," I said regretfully. "I should have. You see, Tristen, there are two different types of people; smart and dumb. I'm a dumb person... I just _can't _learn. Never could. That's why I failed first-grade." I looked straight ahead as I told her that last part. Not wanting to meet her eye. I knew what she was thinking—the same thing everyone thinks _how do you fail first-grade? Idiot. _I knew that was what everyone thought when he told them that little fact... all three of the people he told; Jonah, Jeremy and Tyche. But with my mom, it was different. I knew that what she thought, but she still looked at me the same... my friends... well, it was a different story.

"You learned the basics of karate in only a few hours," she pointed out.

"That's different," I said, finally looking at her. She had just given up on trying to get her hair under control, and a stray strand hit me on the mouth. "It's not the kind of crap you learn in school. Like math reading and writing... that is actually fun and you'll actually use it in life."

"You use that stuff in life," Tristen protested.

"Not all of it." I countered. "What if you want to be a librarian? That has nothing to do with algebra, yet they still make you take it."

"I think they still make you take it so you have options when you're an adult...options that may be better for you and your family."

"It doesn't matter," I said, still looking out at the city. "As a demi-god, I'm doomed to have a crappy life. We all are."

"Seems to me that you have a pretty great life," Tristen countered.

"Yeah," I said, looking at her. "Seems like it. But there's a lot more to me that meets the eye."

The trolleybus slowed to a stop, and the passengers got off, all of them but me and Tristen. The old, gray-haired lady started at us, fine brown hairs on her upper lip. Gross!

"You brats getting off?" She demanded. A family of five loaded the trolley.

"Next stop," I told her.

"Kids," she whined as she reluctantly turned around to drive the trolley again. "They're all the same these days, worthless, spoiled brats,"

"Sounds like someone's a little irritable," I said snidely. "Sad the only hair you can grow anymore is on your lip?"

"You should talk!" She cried. "Your girlfriends hair is blue!"

"Most likely so is your belly-button lint." I snapped. Tristen's hand went in front of my face.

"What's your problem with us anyway?" She persisted.

"Must've missed happy-hour last night," I mumbled. Tristen elbowed me in the ribs.

The driver glared at me for a few seconds. "Off my trolley." she ordered.

"No!" Tristen protested as the driver stood up. I swear the whole bus shook as she walked towards us, grabbing our arms with her sweaty, fat fingers. The air filling up with the smell of her body odors. "Let me go!" Tristen snatched her arm away, accidentally hitting the driver in the lower fold of her stomach. The family of five—two parents and three kids, two boys and a girl, were staring at us with wide eyes. The fat lady grabbed Tristen's arm again. I smacked it away, the noise echoing through the city which had seemed to go silent.

I reached for the pencil that would turn into a spear in my pocket. "Touch her again, I _dare _you." I growled, an evil tone in my voice. I was aware that she still clutched the sleeve of my shirt. I could hear her breathing, a wheezing noise that fat people made when they were hot.

She opened her mouth,as if to say something, but her head snapped to her right as her cell phone rang. She glared down at me, then regretfully released my shirt sleeve and made her way back to her position, reaching for her phone and picking it up.

The mother of the other family aboard looked at us. "Are you children alright?" she asked.

I nodded, and Tristen added. "We're fine, thanks." she pushed a strand of her short brown hair behind her ear, as her bald husband reached for his own phone.

"I'm going to see if I can find the number of her employer, that...woman had no right to put her hands on you." he said, dialing a number and placing the phone up to his ear, he walked away, plugging his free ear.

"You really don't have to do that..." Tristen began to tell the woman, who pulled her daughter to a hug around her knee.

"Well, it's not the first time we've butted heads with Ms. Sherry Palmero," she said, looking at the woman carefully who was talking into her phone. "Last month, my niece was here visiting from Colorado, she was with my oldest daughter Samantha, my husband and I and the rest of my kids were back at home. But when they returned, they said that Sherry had smacked the ice-cream cone from my niece's hand for no good reason-"

She sounded as if she wanted to say more, but her voice was drowned out when Sherry called for me.

"Hey, brat," she said, holding out the phone. "It's for you," she said, a confused tone to her voice.

"Me?" I asked.

"Yeah," she said with deep attitude. I took the phone from her hand.

"Hello?" I asked cautiously, holding the phone to my ear.

"Hi, Jake," a dark voice said from the other side of the line.

"Who is this?" I asked.

"Did you really think that you could get the best of me?" Chills ran up my spine.

"Huh?" I asked, though I knew who it was.

"That thing at the airport, it was just the starting point, but I got really mad when you killed my children. I don't take to madness very well, Jake. You and your girlfriend really crossed the line."

"Hecate?" I asked, though I was sure it was her.

"I was given a take by my lord, Jake. I intend to fulfill his request. Say your goodbye's, Jake. You and blue-hair won't see another day."

"Where are you?" I demanded, frantically looking around, but seeing nothing but a couple shops and an outdoor café. Tristen walked towards me, concerned, looking around to see anything out of the ordinary.

"I'm around," she said with a snicker. "You'd probably see me if you looked around long enough." I scanned around again. Nothing. There were people walking on the streets, some sitting in the outdoor café, a few walking in and out of different stores and shops. I looked behind me. We were at a four-way intersection, parked off the side of the road, the afternoon sun barely shown over the traffic light, and sparkled off the bay. People with fishing gear stood at the light wooden fence that kept them from going directly into the bay. Directly across the water, the Golden Gate bridge stretched proudly across the waters. I pulled the phone tighter to my cheek.

"What do you want from us?" I asked, panic painting my voice.

"Revenge." She stated simply. "Of course, your little girlfriend would know all about that."

It was true. Tristen had gone to some pretty drastic measures to get back at me, Silena and the twins. She had been particularly mad when we put chocolate laxatives in her ice cream. You could say she was experienced in the art of revenge.

"What do you mean?" I asked breathlessly.

"You outwitted me, and killed my only set of triplets. But lets see how you stand up to one of my beasts." I had no chance to ask questions. As soon as those words left her lips, the line went dead.

"What's going on?" Tristen asked all of a sudden.

"I'll explain later... just be on your guard." I told her, pressing the eraser of my pencil, and it grew on both sides, extending to at least his height and one end sharpening itself to a point. A knife materialized in Tristen's hand, her bracelet jingled lightly. Just then, an ear shattering screech disrupted the city. My ears rang for moments after the screech took place. I felt the trolleybus shake, and heard the scratching of metal against another hard surface. I heard a scream and the shattering of glass.

Then, I saw the boar.

It raged through the street, literally running atop the cars that sat at the red light of the intersection. Tristen grabbed my hand.

"What is that?" She asked. The boar's eyes glowed a bright red, like burning charcoal. It was at _least _the size of a small car. Its tusks were half the length of my arm, and had the texture of a skeleton, but the tip of a dagger.

"I think..." My voice trailed off as I watched him trampling cars—eyes set on the trolley. Hard, ash-black skin covered it's while body. "I think that's the Eyrmanthian Boar."

The boar stumbled over itself, falling into the street on its back, but quickly regaining its balance. It looked into the trolleybus, spotting us. It let out another cry that pierced the air violently, causing me temporary deafness, and forcing Sherry the trolley driver to her knees.

It swiped it's front paw against the street, just as a bull would do, scratching the paint of the road. It snorted, and charged the side of the bus.

"Tristen, move!" I cried, grabbing her arm and together, we jumped from the trolleybus. We hit the ground with a thud, pain shooting up my shoulder. I heard a large crunching of metal as the boar rammed the side of the trolley. A scream came from the bus as the family of five fell to the ground. Tristen and I scrambled to our feet. I could see the boar look at us through the corner of his eye, his tusks caught in the base of the vehicle. He yanked and tugged, trying to shake himself loose. I readied my spear, just as the boar gave one more desperate tug, that freed him.

Immediately, he charged at me. I was able to see what he was doing in enough time to just escape being rammed by him. I returned the blow with a lash of my spear, but my weapon bounced harmlessly off his skin, leaving only a small cut followed by a thin line of green blood. I turned at the last second and ran towards the nearest building—a small shopping center. The boar squalled and charged again, as I stood outside the window of the store. I could see the hate in his eyes, he gained speed as his glare locked on me. I only had a few seconds left if I didn't...

"Move!" Cried Tristen. I jumped away from the window when he was so close, I could see the saliva at the ends of his teeth. He jumped, flying through the air, legs kicking wildly, he crashed through the window, showering me with shards of glass. Blood soaked the sleeve of my T-shirt.

The car-sized boar shook his head, sending more glass flying through the air. When my vision cleared, I could see the shocked workers and customers of the shopping center staring at the boar, eyes wide. He was a good ten feet away from me, but I could feel the heat of his breath. I looked up, the trolley towered above me. The boar was coming from its dazed stage.

_A boar that size won't be able to get up there, _I thought. Without warning, the boar charged Tristen, who was at least twenty feet away. He passed me, sending a wave of air that cooled me, but I could hardly see him. But I saw him jump into the air. Tristen repeated this technique, first getting a running start, and then jumping into a perfectly-formed flying sidekick. To my terror, as if in slow motion, Tristen and the Eyrmanthian Boar were racing towards each other in mid air. They collided, Tristen's foot hitting the snout of the boar, the tiniest trickle of green blood flowing from his nostril.

They were forced away from each other in the air, each doing their own series of back flips in the air. Tristen was able to land on her feet—thank Zeus for years of karate training. The boar landed on his back, squealing in pain. He scrambled back to his feet. He landed only about seven feet from Tristen. As the boar was distracted, I jumped, gripping the side of rail on the trolley. I pulled myself up, and slid over the top of the side, falling to the floor with a thud. The family jumped, startled. I immediately climbed back to my feet.

"Don't worry, it's going to be fine," I promised, though I wasn't sure myself. I leaned over the railing. Tristen had her knife jabbed into the boars hip.

"Tristen!" I cried. "The boar can't reach us up here!" She released her knife and took off towards me. I reached my hand down, she gripped it, placed her feet against the tattered side of the vehicle, and tried to walk up. All of a sudden, the boar jumped, Tristen's knife scraped against bus. He let out a small sound as he pushed Tristen with his snout. She held my hand tighter, but the boar dragged her down to the ground... me along with her.

We plummeted to the ground, we hit the floor with force, Tristen hitting the hardest. As she hit, the unmistakable sound of bones' shattering seemed to be the loudest noise I ever heard. The car-sized boar lie next to her, wiggling its fat feet around in attempt to regain its footing. Tristen held it down with all her might. It took the fresh metallic taste of blood for me to realize that I had cut my own face with my spear as we tumbled down from the trolley. I jumped to my feet, and grabbed Tristen's knife from the struggling boar, I tossed the celestial bronze weapon through the air, but as Tristen held the boar with all her force using one hand, she gripped her shoulder with the other, her face exclaiming her pain. The knife clattered to the pavement.

It was the first time I noticed, but people who had lived to retreat from their car, stood on the side of the road, snapping pictures of the two children fighting the boar. I began to wonder what they were seeing through the mist. The boar slipped from Tristen's grasp and he stood on all fours. He glared at Tristen, I swung my spear at him, but he dodged, and with a swing of his mighty tail under my feet, I fell to the ground.

This was it, the boar focused on Tristen. I knew I couldn't do anything, and she was basically helpless. It hovered over her, ready to make the kill...

"I'm comin', brat!" Sherry the trolley driver cried, standing on the railing of the bus. She jumped, landing on the huge pig. I squalled as she wrapped her arms around it, and tackled it back down to the ground. I watched as the boars, eyes' widened when the fat driver pulled his legs upwards. He screeched again, and somehow, in the process of this... there was something that happened that I missed... somehow, Sherry had mounted the ancient boar, and was riding him like an angry bull.

"Yeeeeeee haaaaaawwwww!" She screamed, a smile on her face. Tristen stopped writhing in pain for a moment to gawk at this peculiar sight, but went straight back to being in pain. The boar snorted, jumping and jostling, trying to shake the extra weight from him. For at least ten seconds, the boar shook, and finally, Sherry lost her grip, and flew off his back, literally soaring through the air, across the street and smashed into the wall, leaving a tiny crack in the brick of the café. Then, I saw Hecate.

She sat at one of the outside tables of the café, a newspaper had been pulled in front of her face, but as the fat lady plunged into the wall, Hecate lowered her newspaper, exposing her face to me. I noticed the boar was off-guard, in attempt to end all of this, I shoved my spear at him with all my might. With the cracking of his leathery skin, the spear went through his hide, I pushed as hard as I could until my spear couldn't go any farther. He let out one more, weak, somewhat sad cry of pain as I yanked my spear out of his skin. As soon as my weapon had no contact left with the boar, he dissolved into a golden dust.

"No!" Hecate cried, slamming her newspaper to the ground. She had drawn too much attention to herself to confront us. She glared at me, and slowly faded from existence.

I wondered how the mist would cover her disappearing like that. But there wasn't enough time to focus on things like that. I grabbed Tristen's hand, trying to help her up. "Come one," I rushed her. "We don't have much time, the police are probably on their way. We have to get out of here!"


	13. Last Sights

**Last sights**

I stirred from my slumber, my eyes flickering to life. I could hear the pounding of rain outside, along with the sun heating up my back. Jake and I had rested in a motel for the night, we didn't want to break into the titan strong hold tired, we were most likely going to be killed anyway, but we needed all the advantages we could get.

Hearing Jake strumming away on his guitar, I rubbed my head, while swinging around and kicking my legs out of the bed.

I caught onto the song he was strumming. Smiling, I joined in, "So stand in the rain, stand your ground, stand up when it's all crashing down. You stand through the pain, you won't drown, and one day what's lost will be found. You stand in the rain."

Jake looked up surprised. "So you're up?"

I squinted at him, "You're one to talk, you normally take forever to get up!"

"Yeah, but today I didn't." He stuck out his tongue.

I stood up slowly, and started moving backwards, "Yeah, well... I'm getting in the shower first!" I turned and ran to the shower room, Jake hot on my tail. I slammed the door and heard a yelp, followed low grown outside. "I'm not falling for it," I yelled at him.

"Damn," He muttered, giggling.

Shaking my head, I quickly showered, and pulled back on my pyjamas, and tied my hair back.

Jake was sitting patiently on one of the beds. "Why are you wearing... that?" He frowned, indicating my short and vest top pyjama combo.

"Well I don't want to raid the titan strong hold with nothing but a tee-shirt, some jeans and a sword."

"So... you're wearing your pyjamas?"

I snorted, "I think there must be some sort of armour in the bags Chiron gave us."

Jake sighed, and rubbed the back of his head, "Right, I'll get a shower."

"And I'll call Chiron."

Jake made his way through the shower room, as I picked up a pair of jeans off the floor, and rooted around in the pocket, producing a large golden coin. Examining the jeans, I frowned. "Hmm... these aren't mine."I turned to the door, "Jake! I'm stealing your money!" I heard a grunt in reply.

I glanced outside, I could see a rainbow out of the window. Climbing up, I pushed open the window, then leaned out, getting soaking wet in the process.

I flipped the coin. "Oh goddess Iris, accept my offering. Chiron Camp Half-blood, Long Island."

The mist shimmered until Chiron's bearded face appeared.

He scrunched up his eyebrows, "Tristen, where are you?"

I glanced around, realising how odd it must be, with me having half my torso out the window, "Oh, I needed the rainbow, and it's raining right now."

"You're ruining your pyjamas." Chiron stated.

"Right... Anyway, where do we go?" I chewed on my lip, "I mean, we're in San Francisco, and we've got to get the fleece, and we've got no idea about where to go."

"You see why a prophecy would be helpful now?" Chiron asked condescendingly.

"Not helping." I snipped, "Anyway, what can I do? It's not like I can have an I.M. conversation with a mummy." I laughed, joking, as Chiron looked sternly. "Chiron, please don't tell me you're thinking what I think you're thinking!" I whined, pleading silently with him.

--

"Damn Chiron, with his I.M. to a mummy," I muttered under my breath trying to hunt out another drachma. "Damn prophecy having to be right, damn quest leader." I started cussing severely under my breath as my toe caught on a wire causing me to trip and fall.

I fell on top of another pair of jeans. I raised myself up on my elbows, checking inside the pockets. I smirked, finding another drachma, and then scrambled to my feet.

The window was still wide open, I hung out of it, grateful that all that was below me was the hotel garden, and no people, then I flipped up the coin into the rainbow. "Oh goddess Iris, accept my offering." I paused, puzzled over what to say. "The Oracle? Camp Half-Blood, the big house attic." I asked hesitantly.

Relief washed over me as the puddle blurred, and a mummy appeared in the small window of floating sunshine and rainwater. This relief was quickly dispelled as I realised that I was face to face with the oracle. "Err, sorry for how late this is, I should have asked you when I was at camp... Anyway," I jerked myself back to reality with a shake of my head. "I need to know how I can get the Golden Fleece. Please." I added as an afterthought.

The Oracles mouth opened, as she let out a scratch breath. For a minute I thought that she wasn't going to say anything, that I wasn't allowed to get a prophecy via I.M. after the quest had already started, but sure as anything, the mummy started to speak, in a weak voice.

"_Two shall travel into the titan's layer,_

_Using secret entrances not thought there._

_Two shall enter,_

_Two shall return._

_Your greatest failing shall be your concern."_

The oracles dark hallow mouth shut, as the wispy voice faded. The image blurred, and faded with it, leaving me hanging out the window, even more confused.

And I didn't have any money left. "Err, Goddess Iris? Is there any way you could do like a 0800 reverse call? You know, charge Chiron?" a small gray misty cloud appeared in front of my face. I took that as a yes. "Chiron, Camp Half-Blood, Long Island."

I scrawling black handwritten message came up in the cloud. _We are currently waiting on the other caller paying the bill, please wait._

The message faded, replaced by the bearded, aged face of Chiron, the gray in his hair and the wrinkles around his eyes making him look older than ever.

I smiled like a small child, "Yey, it worked."

Chiron looked at me disapprovingly, frowning, "What did the Oracle say?"

I recited the Prophecy to him, his frown deepened all the time.

"Why's it so short?" I asked.

Chiron scratched his beard. "I guess, because you have already started your quest. The Oracle only has to prophesise about part of the quest. If you'd gotten one when I'd told you to," he looked pointedly at me, during that last part. I shrugged as if to say _'sorry'_ and he continued on, "...then it would have been longer."

"Okay, so what does it mean, '_two shall enter, two shall return.' _Cause wouldn't that just mean that me and Jake are both going to come back?_" _I asked, relieved.

Chiron's sombre look killed all the relief I had been feeling. "Tristen, you know how there has been a lot burning of shrouds recently."

I nodded. "Yeah, the titan's have been picking off half-bloods outside of the camp boarders."

"Well, not all of those half-bloods are dead. A lot have been taken prisoner, with no hope of return. Every quest to save them has ended in failure, adding more half-bloods to the cells."

My mouth dropped open, "You can't just _leave _them down there!" I yelled, "How could... how?"

"That's what the prophecy was referring to, if you try to save someone, it will be at the sacrifice of you or Jakes life." Chiron's face was grave, I could tell how hard this was, for him to know that some of the half-bloods that he had basically helped raise were sitting in a cell most likely going to be brutally murdered.

"So what, if I try to help someone, I'll end up being killed."

Chiron butted in abruptly, "Not you, you or Jake."

I rolled my eyes, "Jake's not going to be the one who's killed, it'll be me."

"Such a pessimistic view." Chiron said.

I opened my mouth to speak by the I.M. cut out. "Damn it, DAMN IT!" I pulled my torso out of the window, and kicked the wardrobe, creating a large bang. Why didn't I ask about the first bit? Idiot! Priorities Tristen, always ask about the things that are confusing before stuff you take for granted.

"I see that you're cutting down on the cussing." Said a dry voice behind me, I spun around to see Jake, his blond hair darkened from the water, and his eyes green.

"We've got a prophecy."

--

"So what? You think that there are tunnels under Mt. Orthys?!" I asked, gently pressing the accelerator and turning right along the dirt path.

"Don't think, _know." _He sighed, scratching his head, "Err, you know how you're a lot deeper sleeper than I am? Well you didn't hear much of the late night discussions in the Hermes cabin. I heard a lot about the tunnels, though no one thought they were _real_."

"So... explain more please?"

"Turn right here," Jake pointed, as I swerved erratically spinning the corner. "Well, the titans created a labyrinth network of tunnels underneath Mt. Orthys. It's... it's a prison Tristen. They keep Half-bloods, and spoils of war. That's why they will have taken the Fleece there, it's basically a stronghold."

"So where do we go to find one of the tunnel entrances?" We were at the foot of Mt. Orthys now; all that surrounded us was dusty desert wasteland. The stolen Jeep had no problem with the bumpy terrain.

Jake smirked, "Pull up here."

I turned the car, bringing it to a halt, and then swung open the door, stepping out onto the burning sand.

I headed to the back door, opening it to get the bags out, I was still in a pair of shorts and tee-shirt, Jake was wearing something similar. He opened the door on the other side.

Jake pulled open his bag, emptying it across the backseats, my eyes widened, catching sight of the amount of stuff that had been crammed into these small, if slightly too heavy, rucksacks.

"Whoa."

There was amour, for sure. It was heavy, breast plate, shoulder guard some sort of chain mail trouser things, and some heavy walking boots, and helmet masks sort of things. It was all painted bright red, with dark stripes across it.

"We're going to bake," Jake said simply.

I put a hand in front in my eyes, and looked at the sun. Jake was right, it was boiling out, and we were going to be wearing giant tin cans. "Fuck," I muttered.

"Right, so we'll sort through the bags, only take stuff we need, and nothing that can identify us. If we...." he gulped, taking a deep breath."If we get caught, then we don't want them to know who we are." His breath was shaky and uneven.

It took us half an hour to settle on bandages, ambrosia, a can of knock-out gas, and a dagger, which we attached to the inside of our amour.

The amour itself was by far one of the trickiest things I've ever had to put on. The metal seemed to contradict itself and if you didn't put it on in a certain way, then it didn't all go on, so you had to take it all off again, and put it back on in order. I had to do it five times.

Jake had to try six times.

I put my rucksack on my back, then realised that we probably shouldn't do this. "Jake, should we tape this stuff to the inside of our amour?"

He made his clankity way around the car, walking as if he had sunburn, I giggled.

"What?" he asked, his voice muffled from inside the red and black tin can.

"I said," I realised my own voice was muffled from the tin, I raised my voice. "Should we put this," I shook the rucksack, "inside our amour."

He looked at me puzzled, "What do you mean?"

I looked up at him, I couldn't even see his face behind the large metal case, but his eyes were still on show, a deep brown. I took the small bottle of ambrosia out of my bag, and taped it to the inside of my amour, along the bandages, and knock out gas. There was enough room in front of my stomach in the breast plate to store the contents of my bag.

"It doesn't fit!" Jake whined, trying in vain to stuff the knockout gas into the same place I had.

I bit my lip, "Come here."

He shuffled over to me, holding out the tin can. I grabbed the bottom of the breast plate, stretching it out, and jamming the tin can into it. Jake winced. "Sorry mate, you'll be thankful if you need it."

The breast plate sprung back into place causing Jake to wince. I slapped him on the shoulder, the metal stinging my hand, and barely shaking Jake. "Where are we going?

Jake pulled off his helmet, and smirked. "We're here."

I frowned, looking around at the barren desert, the only landscape with the large mountain, and some small amounts of shrubbery. "Jake, there's nothing here, to signal underground tunnels." I followed his example, and took off the heavy metal tin can, so that I could see better.

"Can't you hear that?" he asked.

I blinked at him, "...No, what?"

"The beeping!" He started moving sideways towards a shrub, holding his ear. He let out a shout of triumph pulling aside some of the shrubbery, reviling a large sewer grate like plate, hidden partially by the dusty desert sand, and partially by the shrubs. A flashing red light on top signalised where you would swipe an I.D. card, or something.

I approached the sewer grate carefully. Sure enough, the closer I got to the cast iron plate, the more I heard a faint beeping.

"How are we going to get in?" I asked, looking in dismay at the titan's entrance.

"Easy." Jake smirked. He pulled a familiar looking piece of plastic. "I have a feeling that the credit card mom gave me, may have been more than just a credit card."

My eyes widened, as Jake crouched down, swiping the card in the card spot. The flashing light turned green, and Jake hauled up the sewer grate, and pushed it onto the sand.

He stood up, and grinned at me, before pulling on his helmet. "I'll see you down there."

"No! No! Wait!" I yelled desperately, as Jake stepped into the hole in the ground, disappearing from sight.

I hurried to the edge, hearing a muffled thump. "Jake?! Jake, are you okay?"

Jake groaned, "I'm fine, forgot to bend my knees when I landed, otherwise, fine, come on! Jump down."

I hesitantly swung my legs over the side of the hole in the ground, all that was below me was darkness. Cringing, I scrunched up my eyes, and pushed myself off the ledge, falling into the shadows.

As soon as my feet hit the hard stone ground, I winced and opened my eyes gingerly. The room around me was tall. Very tall, around eight foot high. The rock had been ground out, with hack saws leaving rough scraping walls. The tunnel continued on both left and right, and both ways turned, going out of sight.

Jake was standing in full amour. I could see his eyes, he was mad.

"Get your helmet on idiot!" he hissed, I hurriedly pulled on the clunky metal protection, limiting my field of vision.

"Two guards have already been past." He continued. "These are the uniforms." I could hear the slight hint of a smile.

I smiled back, even though he couldn't see it through the helmet. "I think your lucks back, I mean, it has to be, why else would we have parked almost exactly where there was an entrance?"

"Let's hope so, we're going to need all the luck we can get if we're going to get out this alive." Jake looked both ways along the passage, as if he were about to cross a road, then removed his helmet. His hands reached the bottom of my helmet, and pulled it up over my face.

He discarded the metal, dropping it to the floor. His hands reached around the back of my head, and his lips met mine. My arms twisted around his back, my hands wandering upwards tangling themselves in his hair. We met with such a passion, I'd never felt it before. It was obvious Jake was the more experienced kisser, Silena had taught him well. I didn't know what I was doing, I just acted on instinct. His tongue darted out, touching my lip briefly, I followed his example, before he pulled away abruptly.

"No, not now." He bent down, and picked up mine, and his helmets, "Tristen... we're going to have to split up."

"Okay." I responded, fine with this fact.

His gloved hands held onto the side of my helmet, forcing me to look at him. "Tristen, I'm serious. Listen to the prophecy. Get the Fleece and get out. If you find the Fleece, get out, if you don't, get out after two hours. We'll meet at the jeep, before setting off again."

I nodded and we embraced in a clumsy, amour hindered hug, before he turned and ran.

"Jake!" I called, as he started to run in the opposite direction.

He turned back to me, his green eyes sparkling through the gap in his helmet. The cave water dripped down around him, as the soft glow of torches lit up his face. "Yeah?"

I wanted to tell him that I loved him, I really did, but I just couldn't force the words to leave my mouth. Shaking my head I replied, "Doesn't matter."

Jake drew his sword, "Be safe Tristen." And with that, he was gone. I watched him leave, running off into the darkness, and around the corner, till he was out of sight.

Because it was always possible it would be the last time I saw him.

--


	14. The Fleece

Okay, so you want the truth?

I ditched the battle-armor about half-way through the tunnel. I mean, it was really hard to sneak through an underground labyrinth of death when it sounded like your clothes needed oil. I kind of felt like the tin-man from _The Wizard of Oz _in it anyway.

It was almost as if I wanted to have a brain all of a sudden... or was it a heart he needed? Ir was he the one that Dorothy carried the whole way—no, wait, that was her dog, the one named after salad dressing. Than what was I looking for? A lung, maybe?

I caught myself. Of course, I was one of the lucky few half-bloods who didn't have to live with ADHD or dyslexia. But still, my mind wandered off all the time.

Who's brilliant idea had it been to split up, anyway? Hadn't _Scooby- Doo _taught us anything? Splitting up only resulted in chaos... and that Wilma needed to get contacts.

It was dark and cold in the tunnels. I was wearing my last change of clothes—khaki shorts and a white T-shirt, and was regretting it. I wished I'd brought something black—that way it would've been harder to see me. But, alas...

It was almost like a cave—which it pretty much was, except I don't recall Yogi having armed forces in his cave...

But I honestly couldn't see anything. It was like when the electricity goes off at midnight, and you have those creepy thoughts about how the killer from the horror movie you'd watched before you went to bed had cut the phone lines and shut off your power so you'd be the next victim. 'Cept I was feeling the cave wall and hoping I wouldn't run into any freaky Titan monsters that would scare me to the point I wet myself.

I stopped cold all of a sudden. I could hear voices from Zeus-only-knows where. I could tell they were voices, though. They were very faint. My eyes focused in on a dim light that I could see now. Flames danced on the cave roof and the floors and walls.

The voices were clearer now—it was the voice of a woman arguing with a man. She seemed more angry than he did, however. Sweat began to trail down my face, and my heart-rate picked up. I'd managed to get past a few guards unnoticed, I'd even stabbed one in the back with his own knife... long story. But, I didn't know what to do now. There was more light in this part of the tunnel than any others, and it sounded like there were people with power.

"—ran into them in an airport in Vegas! They were on their way here! You'd be a fool not to protect the fleece."

My blood ran cold when I realized who the woman's voice belonged to.

"What were you doing in Vegas, Hecate?" the man's snide voice said. "You know you have a gambling problem."

"I do not!" she snapped. "One more comment like that, and I'll turn you into a pine cone!"

I was standing outside what seemed to be the room the light was coming from, my body pressed against the outside wall, listening in. My hand went to the pencil in my pocket, just in case.

"I've told you a thousand times," the man continued. I could hear him moving around the room. "There's nothing for you to worry about, the fleece is guarded 'round the clock."

"I've seen the guards you're using," Hecate told him, using a tone as if he were a pathetic little rat. "Two of the scrawniest demi-gods I've seen. A three-year old could get past them. And who do you use when they're off-duty? A chimpanzee? I demand you upgrade your security."

"Oh," the man sounded offended. "You _demand? _What grounds allow you to do that?!"

"The grounds that I'm a goddess, and you are but a mere in-breed immortal son of Atlas."

"A minor goddess, need I mind you. Not powerful nor near important enough to have her own throne on Olympus."

Hecate slammed her fist on a table or something—I couldn't' see what they were doing. "How dare you!"

"No, Lady Hecate!" the son of Atlas replied. "How dare you! You come to _my _fortress in which _I _have been chosen to protect by Kronos himself, and you start making demands like your the bloody queen of England!"

"I'm just trying to protect the fleece!" Hecate shouted. "In which you seem to have no interest in whatsoever!"

"I have plenty of interest in the relic! I just don't see the need in placing more protection on it against two teenagers who have probably been killed by something already. Which brings me to an interesting question—why didn't you kill them in Nevada, Lady Hecate?" Upon asking his last question, his voice calmed from angry, to a mocking tone.

"The boy called in his mother," Hecate said with daggers in her voice. "I swear, when I see that pepped-up bleach-blonde midget again, I'm going to kill her with a spell I haven't used in a thousand years." she paused. "Which reminds me, what if he calls in his mother again? Surely your two guards can't hold their own to a goddess, no matter how insane she may be."

I was getting a little ticked that she kept dissing my mother. I mean, sure, she had her flaws, but, at least she didn't look like a 50-year old former-biker and chain-smoker.

Before the son of Atlas could answer, Hecate spoke up again. "And I can't even _imagine _what it would be like if the girl's mother finally decided she'd take responsibility for her failure and claim the little monster."

"Who _is _the girl's mother?"

I leaned in closer, my heart was pounding faster. Would Hecate really say Tristen's Olympian parent's name? Would I be able to finally tell Tristen who she is?

"Why, her mother is—" Hecate began, but her voice was drowned out.

"Hey!" A teenager screamed from across the cave, and instantly, I took off in a run. "Stop! Identify yourself!"

I could hear their feet pounding the floor behind me, and I chanced a look. They were passing where I had just been standing, and the light hit their faces. There were two of them, a boy and a girl, the girl a little taller than the boy, both wearing leather armor and wielding a sword.

I suddenly tripped. I don't know why. I just.. tripped. I scrambled to my feet and realized that if I ran, they'd catch me. My only hope was to fight. By this time, Hecate and the burly son of Atlas were making their way into the hallway to see what the commotion was about.

The boy charged me, as my spear was still expanding into its true form, but, I could see where his blow was headed, and I dodged it, sparks flew from the stone wall as the sword struck it. He went for a second blow, and this time, I was ready, and I parried the blow and returned it with the butt of my spear, jabbing him in the nose.

He writhed back in pain, and the girl approached me, slow and steady, holding her sword extended to level with my head. But there was something about it... it was glowing a brilliant purple glow. Just looking at it made me feel all fuzzy and warm—like I was high.

I was distracted for too long. She whipped the sword and screamed a word in Greek, and I fell to the floor. I couldn't move at all—couldn't do anything voluntary. I could only breathe... but just barely.

I couldn't feel their touch as they lifted me, the girl by the arms and the boy by the legs, and dragged me into the room that Hecate and the fortress commander led them into.

Luckily, I was numb all over, and couldn't feel the pain as they dropped me to the floor. Hecate stood over me, and smiled her greasy, yellow smile.

"Jake, how lovely to see you," she teased.

I tried to say something sarcastic, like, _too bad I can't say the same. _But I couldn't' move my lips. I got a good look at the two guards that had beaten me so easily, one was a girl, she seemed Hispanic with long, black hair—she was the one with the glowing sword. The other was a pale kid with glasses and jet-black hair.

Hecate looked at them as well. "I thought you two were supposed to be guarding the fleece?" she hissed.

"So we took a coffee break," the girl said. "Chill, mom."

_Mom? _Who in their right mind would reproduce with Hecate?

"Don't talk to me like that," Hecate demanded, she looked back down at me with a satisfied smile. "What did you use on him?"

"Just a minor immobilization spell. It should wear off in a while..." She explained.

Hecate snapped, and suddenly, I could feel the cold cave floor pressed against my body, and I could Hecate's hot breath on my face—which was not at all pleasant.

"Jake," Hecate said with false heartiness. "Have a seat." she picked me up by the shoulders, and slammed me into a seat at a small round table—which was the only thing in the cave-room besides the four chairs. "Don't move."

I looked around the room. It was lit by small brazers and torches set in a decorative tone. But, other than that, it looked like a cave. A boring, simple cave.

"Who's this clown?" the girl asked.

Hecate made sure that the big bald son of Atlas guy was paying attention. "This, is Jake, son of the goddess of luck, and the wannabe retriever of the Golden Fleece." She turned her attention to me. "So, where's your girlfriend?"

There was a silence.

"You're not even going to snap at me for calling her your girlfriend?"

I was too caught up to tell her that this time it was true. I was trying to think of something to say. Like, where to tell her Tristen was. This time—and only this time, was I lucky my mouth was a couple seconds ahead of my brain.

"She's dead." I said. My own voice sounded hoarse to even me.

"Dead?" Hecate said with disbelief. "I highly doubt that. She was the _good _fighter."

I ignored that extremely rude comment. "It's true. We were attacked by the Eyrmanthian boar in San Fransisco. We tried to jump to a trolley for safety, but it was raining, and Tristen slipped and fell into the streets, right in front of the boar, and he dragged her off..."

Hecate stared at me for a long time, having taken a seat herself. She was probably trying to tell if I was lying or not. Finally, she looked over where the two teenage guards were standing.

"You, freakish boy with the glasses, give the order to start an immediate search on a blue-haired girl." Hecate ordered.

"Hey!" the commander said. "I give the orders around here. But, yeah, do what she said..." And the boy scurried out of the room.

"Who the hell are you anyway?" I asked.

He leaned in from across the table. "I am the guardian of the Titans, the fist of fury, the watchful eye of Kronos, the Fortress keeper and Olympian smasher, son of Atlas, Joe."

I raised an eyebrow. "Joe?"

"Yeah." He growled. "Joe, you got a problem with it?"

"No," I told him, not at all intimidated. "I just thought it'd be something more... ancient and majestic."

"Yeah? Well you thought wrong, ballerina." He said.

"So, Joe, what punishment do you think best suits Jake?" Hecate asked.

"I dunno'." Joe said. "What has he done?"

"Humiliated me." Hecate told him.

"Ah... well for that, he deserves a pat of the back."

Joe and Hecate suddenly seemed to lose focus, before Hecate could respond. And suddenly, they fell limp to the floor. I looked to see the girl's sword leveled to the table we were sitting at. I sat there, stunned.

"You gonna' just sit there?" she asked. "You want the Fleece or not?"

I stood, still shocked. She gestured with her head towards a doorway that lead out. "It's down that corridor, in the last room. It should still be unguarded. I don't know why my mom didn't make us go back..."

"Um... thanks. Why are you doing this?" I asked.

She looked down at her mom with her big, brown eyes. "This is what she gets for making me quit school, for making me leave my home, my friends, and my dad that actually cared, all to train me how to use attack magic and make me stand next to a piece of cloth magic. Now go. I don't know how long this will last."

She didn't need to tell me again. I took off down the hallways she'd told me to go down. It was barely lit, but I could see where it molded from a hallway, into a giant room that didn't need lighting from the fire—it was already lit by the fleece.

It was just as I remembered. A beautiful piece of golden luminescent cloth that lit up the dark. Just looking at it filled me with hope, and joy, and all the things that I shouldn't feel in a life-or-death situation like this. It sat on a podium that looked as if it were made of the rock from the cave itself, draped over it like a blanket.

I saw a backpack that must've belonged to one of the guards, and yanked it up. I knew not to touch the Fleece with my hands, so I pressed the bag up against the rock and let it slide in, and zipped it up. And the light turned to dark.

And just like in the horror movie I mentioned earlier, as soon as it was dark, I heard the gunshot.


End file.
